Broken Promises
by theshadowcat
Summary: You should always keep your promises...some more than others.
1. Blue Beak!

**DISCLAIMER:** As per the usual, I don't anything from Disney's Mighty Ducks and I'm not making any money off of this. However, I do own my original characters, so no touchy please.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** For those fans who have been ever so patiently waiting for me to update my Transformer and/or X-Men stories, I'm really sorry. I've been having a hard time getting anywhere on those stories. My hope is that by writing this story, I will finally be able to make headway on those stories.

This is my first story in the Might Ducks Animated Series universe. I've been re-watching the episodes (thank you, YouTube) and I will do my best to keep everyone in character. Before everyone gets on me about my OC being a Mary Sue, I am trying to keep her as toned down as possible. However, she has to have some umph or there wouldn't be a story. At any rate, please enjoy and reviews are greatly appreciated.

One last thing, I normally write in the present tense, but I'm trying to write this story in past tense. If I mess up, please let me know nicely and I will do my best to fix it. - TSC

* * *

He clutched the goalie stick to his chest with a death grip. His eyes closed in hopes that when he opened them again, it would all be a bad dream. He felt like a traitor for doing this. He was betraying his best friend all because of a hastily made promise. He had had every intention on keeping that promise when he had made it, but in the heat of battle, nothing goes according to plan.

If the Saurians had just had the decency to stay in their alternate dimensional prison, none of this would be happening. But they did get out and they came gunning for his world again. He had sacrificed himself to defend his team and his planet. Now he was sacrificing his best friend because of that blasted promise.

He gave up trying to figure out how they had figured out he had some time last night. Their ways weren't...normal. It still gave him chills that they were able to retrieve him from his limbo without the help of any machines. All but one of them gave him the creeps, though she wasn't quite right either.

He could still see that fateful meeting in his mind's eye as if it just happened yesterday, though it had happened well over a year ago. He had gone through so much to get to that point and faced one last challenge. Who knew that those words would come back to haunt him.

She had stood there before him in that tomb with what he was seeking and fought so hard for in her hands. She was pretty enough, except for her beak. Her beak was all wrong. But he hadn't really been paying attention to her beak or her hair or feathers or even what she had been wearing, but what was in her hands.

He made his promise and got the prize he had sought for so long and fought so hard for. Afterwards, she had given him food and a place to rest and then had sent him on his way. He hadn't questioned why he had to make that promise and never for a moment did he think that they'd force him to hand his best friend over on a silver platter.

"It is time," a soft voice next to him said.

He finally opened his eyes and glared at her. She hadn't changed much since they had first met. She still had dark red feathers and eyes nearly as dark as her raven colored hair which she wore in a braided crown on her head. The light blue, floor length dress clung to her every curve and the belt of gold links embedded with precious jewels hung nearly to the ground. She had added a cloak to her outfit in deference to the fact that they were now outdoors. Her beak was still...not quite right.

"Don't do this," he quietly growled. "This is wrong. You know it is."

"I don't have a choice any more than you do," she gently reminded him. "The elders have decided and we are both bound by the promise you gave me."

"The Saurians are still out there," he said, desperate to stop what was going to happen. "I can feel it."

"You can't be sure of that," she replied calmly. "It could be that the Saurians have been defeated and your team simply couldn't return home. I will do my best to bring them back with me."

"He won't just let you take it," he warned.

"He won't have a choice," she replied with a sad smile. "Now please, give me the stick."

"I won't let you do this," he defiantly stated, clutching the stick tighter.

"Please, don't make me take it from you," she nearly begged. "I don't want to do this either, but I have no choice. You and I both know I can force you to hand it over. I'd rather not."

He glared at her for a good minute before finally thrusting the goalie stick at her. He couldn't look at her any more, feeling like the biggest traitor in the world. He felt her pull the stick from his fingers, but he still didn't open his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

When he finally opened his eyes again, she was making her way through the circle and headed for the center of the snow covered clearing. There were forty-eight of them in the circle with her being the forty-ninth and the only one in the center. They were all adults of various ages, colors and genders and every last one of them had beaks that shouldn't even exist.

The snow had been falling since they had brought him out of the vortex he had been stuck in three days ago, but it finally stopped last night. The sky was crystal clear and the sun was nearing its apex in the sky. The snow should have been a couple feet deep, but instead it was only a few inches. He could have asked how that could be, but these ducks made the world conform to their wishes. They gave him the creeps, except for her.

Probably because she had done nothing to intimidate him like the others had. She had been kind and understanding while the others had been passively hostile towards him and to a small extent towards her as well. They blamed her for him passing the test, not believing that he could have done it without help. However, she could hold her own against them, so they took their displeasure out on him. There was no love lost between him and this group of ducks. However, he wouldn't have changed what he had done, so now he had to face watching them go after his best friend.

Forty-eight voices started to chant, echoing off of the walls of the surrounding mountains in the tiny valley. He watched in morbid fascination as their eyes all started to glow. She stood silently in the center of the circle, her eyes closed, head bowed and the goalie stick clutched to her chest.

He briefly looked up at the rock formations above him. They looked like a couple of goalie masks. Twin Beaks. The place he had come to help save his world and where he now stood waiting to ruin his team's lives.

The wind kicked up as the voices gained volume, bringing his attention back to the circle of ducks in front of him. The sun seemed brighter and the snow was nearly blinding. The mountains appeared darker and more forbidding. They caused this, of this he had no doubt.

The chanting stopped and a single clear voice started to sing. Her head was now up and her eyes open, glowing like the others. Her voice was so soothing and yet haunting, but he knew that what she was doing was anything but peaceful. She stopped singing for a moment and the circle sang back to her.

He had no idea what they were saying, it was some ancient language that hadn't been spoken in who knew how long. It really didn't matter anyway. He could feel the feathers on his body starting to stand on end from the energy in the air and a shiver ran down his spine.

She took up the song again. He could see something start to form in front of her. A glowing disk that was growing larger and larger. His heart was pounding in his chest and he wanted to charge into the circle and stop this, but his feet wouldn't cooperate.

The circle started to sing with her and the disk grew larger and larger. As the last note was sung, the oblong disk was slightly taller than her and wind whipped around them in a near frenzy, kicking up any loose snow. While the edge still glowed with the energy of the spell cast, the center of the disk showed a place with clear blue skies, green grass, colorful flowers, tall trees and a peaceful waterfall. He wanted to do something, anything, but he couldn't move, couldn't shout. He was helpless.

"Forgive me, Wildwing," he managed to whisper as she stepped through the portal.

* * *

"Face it, bro," he crowed as he threw a football across the meadow towards his red headed team mate. "I was right."

"As much as it pains me to say this," she grumbled while she easily made the catch. "Nosedive's right. We needed a break. A little R&R."

"Thanks, Mallory," Nosedive gleefully responded until he realized what else she said. "I think."

"We should be finding Dragaunus," Wildwing complained as the football was caught by another member of his team.

"And we will," Duke soothed while throwing the football towards Tanya. "But all we've been doing has been fighting the Saurians, fighting crime and playing hockey. As great as those are, we all needed a break."

"Even Grin was starting to get stressed," Tanya pointed out, catching the football with calculated ease.

Wing glanced over at the largest member of the team, meditating by the waterfall at the top of the meadow they were at. The place that they had chosen for their picnic was on the side of a hill, looking down into Anaheim. The small waterfall trickled down into a pool of water. The pool then fed the creek that went over the side of a cliff behind some trees, joining a river a good hundred feet below them. Tall evergreens framed either side of the meadow that was dotted with wild flowers. It was a perfectly calming, tranquil place. He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

"I guess you're right," he agreed as he caught the football as it went flying by. "We do need this."

He could feel himself relax as they threw the toy around. The playful banter and laughing helped him feel more at peace with himself as a captain and with his team. He finally was able to let go of all of the stress and responsibility that weighed so heavily on his shoulders ever since Canard had handed him the mask, making him team captain.

Eventually, Grin joined them after calming his inner being or eye or whatever it was he did. Wildwing laughed at the good natured jabs that were being thrown around almost as much as the football. He even managed to get a few in of his own.

"What's that?" Nosedive asked just before the football hit him in the side of the head. "OW!"

"Nice catch," Mallory snickered as Nosedive glared at her and rubbed the sore spot.

"What's what?" Wildwing questioned.

"That," Nosedive answered, pointing towards the edge of the clearing, not too far from the cliff.

The others looked and saw a small glowing disk hovering in the air near the small waterfall. Wildwing immediately reached for his mask and belatedly realized he had left it in The Migrator. Without a second thought, he turned tail and ran full out for the battle van.

By the time he returned, the disk had grown considerably in size and his team was now in their battle armor with their weapons aimed at the still growing, glowing disk. He quickly made the change to his own armor as he slapped the mask into place. As soon as the change was made, he activated the mask and got a real eye full.

"It's a portal...to Puckworld," he stated as his heart started to pound.

"Remember what happened the last time we had one of those appear in front of us," Mallory warned.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten," Wildwing replied while he tried not to think about any future Phils that might suddenly pop up. "The energy of this portal isn't anything like the energy the Saurians use."

Just as he finished talking, the portal completed opening and the team was hit with a blast of freezing cold air. They're briefly blinded by the wind and snow hitting them in the face and raised their arms to block the wind. By the time they could see again, a figure stood before the portal. Despite the cloak that had been blown over her head, it was very obvious that this being was female. A very shapely female at that.

"Well, that was dignified," grumbled the figure as she started to struggle to set the cloak back where it belonged.

Wildwing swiftly activated the mask again and did a full scan of the female before them.

"She's a duck," he stated with astonishment right before his voice became a warning growl. "And she's radiating the same energy as the portal."

The others raised their weapons again, waiting for the strange female's first move. After struggling with the heavy cloth for several moments, she gave out a frustrated sigh. Suddenly the cloak billowed back into place letting them get their first view of her.

"It's a blue beak!" Mallory yelled, just before opening fire.

The others followed suit in a heartbeat and for a while the air was filled with pucks. By the time they finally stopped shooting, the meadow was littered with spent pucks. However, the blue beaked female was unscathed and looked rather annoyed. They finally saw she was also holding a goalie's stick, something that they hadn't really noticed before.

"Are you quite through?" she asked grumpily.

"Not by a long shot," Wildwing snapped back as he and the others went to reload their weapons.

With a wave of her hand and her eyes glowing a bright blue, the same color blue as her dress and her beak, their weapons were soaring through the air, landing a good twenty feet away.

"Grin, put her to the boards," Wildwing ordered.

"You are disturbing my inner tranquility," Grin growled as he charged across the meadow.

Suddenly, he found himself flying through the air. With all the grace of a brick, he landed in the small pool of water at the base of the waterfall. After sputtering water out of his beak, he looked up at her in surprise.

"Please don't do that again," she instructed before turning back towards the others.

Not one to take orders from a blue beak, he burst out of the water. He leaped at her, going for a flying tackle. Instead, he ended up taking another flight through the air. However, his destination wasn't the pool of water, but his team mates.

After getting over the initial shock of having the largest member of the team land on them and managing to get their breath back after having the wind knocked out of them, they started to get to their feet. A bit unsteadily, they regained their footing and glared at the blue beak. She calmly gazed back at them with her dark eyes.

"Wildwing Flashblade," she started once they had sorted themselves out and Wildwing was stunned motionless for a moment that she knew his name. "As a Keeper of The Mask of Drake DuCaine, which you hold under false pretenses, I hereby reclaim The Mask."

"Over my dead body, lady," he snarled while his team flanked him.

"Fortunately, that won't be necessary," she stated as her eyes started to glow again and she held out her hand. "Mask! Return!"

Before he could even think to make a grab for it, the mask was zipping through the air into her hand. The entire team stood there in shock for several seconds before they started to charge towards her. She gave a self satisfied nod and turned to head back through the portal.

Wildwing knew that if she got through that portal, all hope of getting the mask back would be gone. The thought of trying to defeat the Saurians without it was not something he wanted to think about. As he charged across the meadow with his team by his side, he reached into one of the pouches on his belt and took out a puck. He quickly pushed the activation button on the exploding puck and threw it with all of his might into the portal.

He quickly stopped and brought up his shield, his team hid behind him. The resulting explosion was bigger than anything they could have ever expected. It took them a minute or so after being blown to the edge of the meadow to pick themselves up off of the ground.

"Ok, that wasn't one my more brilliant ideas," Wildwing muttered as he staggered back to his feet. "Is everyone all right?"

"More or less," Tanya groaned.

"That's gonna leave a mark," Nosedive moaned as Wildwing helped him to his feet.

"Pain is an illusion," Grin muttered painfully. "An illusion that really, really hurts."

"Can we please not do that again anytime soon," Duke added as he finally got to his feet.

After making sure his team wasn't in need of medical attention, he started to look around. He saw their weapons scattered around the hill side, the damaged goalie stick laying not too far away and there was a large black hole in the ground where the portal used to be. However, there was no sign of the blue beak. Even more troubling, the mask also was missing.

* * *

She gasped for breath as she managed to get her head above water. She desperately struggled to get the clasp undone on her cloak. The river was too deep and moving too fast for her to just swim to shore. It didn't help that the heavy material of the cloak was trying to pull her under. The dress and belt weren't helping either. Fortunately, her shoes were long gone, so she didn't have to worry about them.

After getting a quick breath, she was dragged under again. Instead of fighting the currant or her cloak, she concentrated on getting the cloak off of her. By the time she was free of the thing, spots were appearing before her eyes and her lungs felt as if they were on fire.

She desperately headed for the light, thankful that it was a bright and sunny day on this world. She took a great, gasping breath as soon as her head cleared the water. She treaded water, letting the currant continue to take her down stream as she tried to get some strength back.

Fortunately, the river got to a wide spot and slowed down a short time later. Her arms and legs felt like they were made out of lead. With a dress that seemed to delight in wrapping around her legs and a belt that felt like an anchor, she dragged herself onto the bank. She collapsed into an exhausted heap as she tried to catch her breath, too tired to even get all of the way out of the river.

If not getting enough sleep and the lack of appetite weren't bad enough, she had to channel all of that magical energy to open the portal. That alone would qualify for a three day nap. But to have to fight Canard's team, nearly get blown up and almost drowning, she should have the right to pass out wherever she wanted. So she did.

* * *

"Spread out," Wildwing ordered. "Try and find the mask or at least that blue beak."

"I thought blue beaks were nothing but legends," Mallory stated as she started to search the area. "Sort of like the Puckworld version of the boogieman."

"They're real, all right," Duke responded grumpily. "I've met one or two in my day. Not something I ever wanted to come across again."

"Hey, Wing?" Nosedive called from near the crater.

"Yeah?" Wildwing replied.

"Isn't this your favorite stick?" Nosedive asked, holding up the broken and charred remains of the goalie stick the blue beak had been carrying.

"It is," Wildwing confirmed as he took the item from his brother. "What's left of it anyways. But I left this on Puckworld. How did she get hold of it and why did she have it?"

"Since it was yours, maybe, you know, she used it as some sort of beacon to home in on you," Tanya suggested as she came up and looked at the ruined piece of equipment.

"Well, that's a disquieting thought," Wildwing grumbled. "Spread out. Keep looking."

They moved out, going over every inch of the meadow and the surrounding trees. They spent hours searching, but in the end, the only thing they had to show for their efforts was the ruined goalie stick. With heavy hearts, they returned to the Migrator and headed back to The Pond.


	2. What's a Blue Beak?

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** A very big THANK YOU to FishyFloat for your review and your help fixing my first chapter. It's been over a year since I lasted posted, so I'm very rusty. I would also like to apologize for what I do to Grin this chapter. I promise that he will have a bigger part later on in the story. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter and reviews really make my day.

* * *

"Whadda ya got for me, Joe?" he asked.

"Some hikers found her, Captain" Joe answered as he lead the detective down the hallway. "It looked like she had fallen in the river and barely managed to get herself out. She was passed out, so they brought her here."

"Any ID?" Klegghorn questioned the policeman as a nurse brushed past them.

"None," Joe replied as they reached the door to the hospital room.

"So, why call me for a Jane Doe case?" Klegghorn demanded.

"This is why," Joe responded as he opened the door.

"Well isn't this just dandy," Klegghorn growled when he realized who, or more precisely what, was lying in the hospital bed.

* * *

Wildwing pulled The Migrator into the garage, shutting off the engines as soon as they had stopped. They all quietly sat in their seats, still stunned from the loss of the mask. Finally, it was Nosedive who broke the silence.

"What are we going to do, bro?" he asked softly.

"We'll head back tomorrow at first light," Wildwing answered. "We'll go over that hillside with a fine tooth comb if we have to. One way or another, we'll find the mask or that blue beak."

"Are you sure she didn't make it through the portal before the puck blew?" Duke questioned worriedly.

"I'm positive," Wildwing responded, turning to look at the former thief. "I saw it go past her and through the portal. She's still on Earth. The question is where."

"I'll get started on a sensor that'll pick up the mask's energy readings," Tanya offered as she got up and opened the hatch.

"I'll get in some target practice for when we meet up with that..._thing_...again," Mallory added while she followed her team mate.

"This has left my aura cloudy," Grin stated as he moved out. "I will need to meditate."

"Think I'll hit the gym," Duke said while he trailed after the others. "I think the punching bag and I need to go a few rounds."

"I can't believe it," Nosedive whispered once the others were gone. "Blue beaks are real."

"I know how you feel, baby brother," Wildwing replied. "I thought they were nothing but fairy tales, too."

After several moments of silence, Nosedive got up and headed for the door.

"I'm gonna hit the mall before it closes," Nosedive stated

"Be careful," Wildwing cautioned. "That thing is still out there and could be anywhere."

"Relax, bro," Nosedive grinned back. "We're talking about the Divester! Ain't no measly blue beak gonna catch me with my puck down."

"Take Grin with you," Wildwing suggested. "Maybe he can find his inner tranquility or his aura or whatever in the comic book shop."

"Sounds like a plan, bro!" Nosedive gleefully said as he waved to his brother and disappeared down the ramp.

Wildwing continued to sit there in the silent machine, replaying what happened that afternoon and trying to get over the shock of losing the mask. The fact that a childhood monster showed up out of nowhere wasn't helping his funk. He was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that blue beaks were real. Blue beaks were..._real_.

He frowned. Weren't evil monsters supposed to be ugly? The Saurians sure didn't fit anyone's idea of beauty and they were the definition of evil.

But the blue beak...she was actually pretty, if you ignored the beak and when her eyes did that creepy glowing thing. However, Lucretia DeCoy was drop dead gorgeous too and look at how she had turned out.

She had said that he had the mask under false pretenses. Boy, did she have that right. If Canard was still with them, he would just bet that the blue beak would have never been able to get the drop on them.

He ran the last fateful moments with his best friend just before he was sucked down by that electromagnetic worm. Even more than a year later, he still felt guilty for not being able to pull Canard back into the Aerowing.

Figuring it would be better to take his bad mood out on targets like Mallory or the punching bag in the gym like Duke, he got up and exited the Migrator. As he walked through the garage, Phil came through the door. He quickly looked for a place to hide to avoid the overbearing manager, but unfortunately, he was nowhere near cover.

"Wildwing, boobie," Pill called. "What's going on, man? Why the long face? We didn't lose an endorsement, did we?"

"No, Phil, we didn't lose an endorsement," Wildwing assured the human. "We lost the mask."

"Oh, that's all right then," Phil sighed until Wildwing's words sunk into his head. "Wait. What!? How did that happen?"

"A blue beak showed up out of nowhere and took it," Wildwing growled in frustration.

"What's a blue beak?" Phil asked, completely confused.

"They're monsters from my world," Wildwing snarled.

"What do they look like?" Phil questioned nervously. "Do they have claws and fangs and lots of drool? They don't have appetites for lovable managers, do they? Why would it take the mask?"

"No, they look like ducks, but with blue beaks," Wildwing answered, ignoring the last question. "And I'm pretty sure you're safe."

"So, they're just like you, but with a blue beak?" Phil inquired, bewildered. "I thought you said that they were monsters."

"They're nothing like me," Wildwing irritably snapped. "On my world, parents warn their kids that if they weren't good, the blue beaks would come and take them away. They would make the kids into mindless slaves and they would have to do all of the blue beaks bidding and they'd never be able to play hockey ever again. I used to have nightmares about them. They say the only good blue beak is a dead one."

"So, blue beaks are your world's version of the monster under the bed?"

"In an egg shell."

Before Phil could ask any more, Wildwing's communicator beeped.

"Wildwing here."

"Just the duck I wanted to talk to," Klegghorn's voice came through loud and clear. "I want you to meet me at County General Hospital."

"What for?" Wildwing asked.

"I got you an early Christmas present," Klegghorn retorted. "Just get your tail feathers down here."

The line went dead and Wildwing was left standing there with his beak hanging partially open. Figuring calling Klegghorn back would be pointless, he closed his communicator and headed for the Duckcycles.

"Wait!" Phil yelled as Wildwing strapped a helmet on. "Aren't you going to try and get the mask back from this blue beak thing?"

"We looked around the area until it got too dark," Wildwing replied. "We will be going back at first light."

"Maybe you can file a missing mask report with Klegghorn," Phil suggested.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," Wildwing said, barely managing not to roll his eyes.

Wildwing quickly started the bike and revved the engine, drowning out any more of Phil's inane prattling. Without a backwards glance, he burned rubber out of the garage. In short order he was headed down the road, never realizing that his life was about to get more complicated.

* * *

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Siege demanded as he waved the hand held light around.

"I'm not entirely sure," Wraith grumbled. "The sensors picked up some strange energy readings at these coordinates."

"If the teleporter had been working properly, we would have been here while there was still light," Siege complained. "Instead, we're out here chasing our tails in the dark."

The Saurians were interrupted by the barking of a green dog chasing its tail around and around.

"Would you get serious?" Siege snarled, half tempted to take a swing at the annoying shape changer.

Chameleon, still in dog form, went running off across the well trodden meadow. He came running back a minute later, dropping something at Siege's feet.

"What's this?" Siege wondered as he picked up the item. "It's a broken puck! Those stupid ducks were here."

In his irritation, he swung his tail around barely missing Chameleon.

"Hey! No shooting the messenger!" Chameleon complained as soon as he changed back.

"That's not all that was here," Wraith intoned, examining the blacked ground not far from the cliff.

"Whadda ya got?" Siege asked, headed over to the wizard with Chameleon right behind him.

Wraith didn't answer. Instead, he took a pinch of the blackened ground between a couple fingers and rubbed them together. His frown deepened as he sniffed the small bit of dirt. He tasted the sample with the tip of his tongue and nearly flew into a rage.

"No!" Wraith snarled whirling around to look around the area as his eyes glowed with power. "It can't be!"

"What can't be?" Siege snapped.

"They're dead," Wraith muttered as he glided over to some of the trees.

"Who's dead?" Chameleon questioned while he and Siege followed the wizard.

"Those cursed mages," Wraith snapped back.

"What mages?" Siege and Chameleon asked together.

"The mages from Puckworld," Wraith answered irritably, still looking for something in the trees.

"Puckworld has mages?" Siege questioned. "Since when?"

"Since always," Wraith shot back. "They were a very small part of the population all those centuries ago. My dark ancestors put a curse on them just before they were banished to the dimensional prison we escaped from. They should all be dead by now."

"But you think one of them survived?" Siege inquired.

"I don't think, I know" Wraith snarled as he plucked something from a tree at the edge of the cliff. "There's a mage on this cursed planet and we are all doomed."

Without further explanation, Wraith teleported back to The Raptor, leaving the other two to follow suit.

* * *

Normally, he enjoyed the feeling of the wind on his beak, but not this time. This time, all he could think about was those last fateful moments before he had lost the mask. Could he have done something different? Maybe if he had tried an exploding puck on the blue beak before she had taken the mask. Of course, that would have required him knowing that she had come for it in the first place.

Fortunately, the evening traffic was light and he didn't have to deal with too many cars. He did manage to keep enough of his attention on the road not to run a red light in front of a cop on the cross street.

"Pull it together," Wildwing growled to himself. "Thinking about it isn't going to change anything."

He forced himself to ignore what happened earlier so he could make it to the hospital without the benefit of an ambulance. He soon passed the mall and shortly after that, he made it to the hospital. He could see Klegghorn waiting for him just outside the main entrance, so he went and found a place to park.

"All right, Klegghorn, I'm here," Wildwing grumbled, not happy about having to come out there.

"Well, aren't you a right bundle of sunshine," Klegghorn retorted a bit too happily.

"Why am I here?" Wildwing asked, crossing his wings over his chest.

"Come with me and I'll show you," Klegghorn answered just before turning and heading into the building.

Wildwing followed, trying not to let it bug him that Klegghorn hadn't even checked to make sure he was coming. They took the elevator up and got out several floors later. Klegghorn headed down the hall, bypassing the nurses station. They soon came to a door with a police officer standing guard.

"Any change?" he asked.

"No, sir," the cop answered.

"Ok, go get something to eat and then report back," Klegghorn ordered.

"Yes, sir," the cop replied and quickly left.

"All right, what's this all about, Klegghorn?" Wildwing demanded.

"The patient in this room might interest you," Klegghorn hedged.

"I'm a hockey player, not a doctor," Wildwing retorted.

"Already had a doctor take a look," Klegghorn stated. "Why don't you?"

Before Wildwing could think of anything to say, Klegghorn opened the door. Wildwing could see a figure in the bed. The room had very little lighting and he couldn't clearly see who was in it.

Despite himself, he quietly stepped into the room. He barely took notice of the small single lamp on the far side of the room, casting long, dark shadows. The face was turned away from him and the blankets piled up on the bed meant he couldn't even tell the gender of the person in it.

He moved closer and realized that what he had mistaken as shadow was really long black hair spread out over the pillow and over the side of the bed. He took another step and he started to see the cheek. Instead of skin, he could see dark feathers, though it was hard to tell in the low light, he was sure they were dark red.

One more step and he could finally see it. The beak. It was a light blue beak and he nearly stopped breathing. He did his best not to alert the human that there was anything wrong.

His first instinct was to shoot the still figure, but he managed to hold himself in check. He had worried and fretted about finding her and here she was, served up to him on a silver platter. Well, a hospital bed really, but it would do.

"Any idea who she is?" Klegghorn softly asked.

"Nope," Wildwing simply answered. "But I'm sure my team and I can take real good care of her."

"Good," Klegghorn said as he turned to leave.

"How did she end up here?" Wildwing questioned.

"Some hikers found her at the side of the river just outside of town," Klegghorn replied. "They brought her here."

"Why not bring her to The Pond?" Wildwing quietly mused.

"How the heck should I know?" Klegghorn retorted with a shrug. "Maybe they weren't hockey fans."

Before Wildwing could come up with a response about people not liking hockey, Klegghorn headed towards the door.

"I'm sure the doctor will want to talk to you, so stick around," Klegghorn added just before he exited the room.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Wildwing softly replied to the now empty doorway. "I'm not going anywhere at all."


	3. Shocking

**Author's Notes:** Well, not a single review last chapter. I'm writing this story because it's stuck in my head and I'm hoping that by writing it I will finally be able to finish my other stories, so I will continue to write and post, reviews or not. Helpful criticism is always appreciated.

* * *

"Hey! It's the Divester and the Grinster!" Thrash cheerfully announced when Nosedive and Grin entered the shop and then he saw their faces. "Woah, dudes! Why the long beaks?"

"Wing's mask was stolen," Nosedive answered miserably.

"You mean the mask that helps you fight the forces of darkness?" Thrash asked in surprise.

"The same," Grin confirmed, his deep voice reverberating through the shop.

"What a bummer," Mookie added.

"Any idea who would do such a heinous crime?" Thrash questioned.

"A blue beak," Nosedive answered, obviously upset.

"Umm...Like, what's a blue beak?" Mookie inquired, a bit confused about the reference.

Nosedive spent the next several minutes explaining what a blue beak was and what had happened earlier.

"That's such a bummer, dude," Thrash sadly agreed.

"She has a lot of bad karma now," Grin stated.

"Yeah," Nosedive said a bit heatedly. "She has six ducks that are going to deliver some serious bad karma...Just as soon as we can find her."

* * *

He stood there, glaring at her. How dare this...creature...this _monster_...lay there looking so...so..._innocent._ She had no right to be so peaceful after the chaos she created.

He stopped staring at her face, refusing to admit that she was the least bit attractive. He looked down the bed and turned his frown on all the blankets piled on her. Why were there so many?

He didn't want to touch her, but he was curious about the number of blankets. For that matter, why was her hair down? Heck, how did she even get here?

"Oh, good, you're here," a quiet voice said from the doorway.

Wildwing looked over and saw a man in a white lab coat standing there. If the patient file in his hand wasn't a big enough clue, the stethoscope draped around his neck clenched it. He was a doctor and Wildwing wasn't sure how he wanted to respond to the human. He was here to care for this thing that by all rights shouldn't even exist.

"I'm Dr. Charles," the doctor stated as he held out his hand to Wildwing. "I hope you don't mind me asking you some questions."

"I guess it depends on the questions," Wildwing responded as he shook the man's hand.

"I just need some basic medical information," Charles explained with a smile. "I'm not sure what the vital signs for an alien duck are. We called in a vet, but he wasn't much help."

"I guess I can help with that," Wildwing replied while the doctor waved him into the hall.

The next couple minutes were spent going over the average pulse, temperature and blood pressure of the citizens of Puckworld.

"Now for the $64 question," Charles continued. "Do you know her name?"

"Blue beak?" Wildwing suggested.

"I think I prefer Princess Ducky," Charles grumbled.

"Princess Ducky?" Wildwing asked in disbelief.

"Didn't anyone tell you who found her?" Charles questioned.

"No, but I'm curious why she was brought here and not to us," Wildwing replied.

"No offense, Wildwing, but you're hockey players, not medical professionals and she need us more than a rousing game of hockey," Charles pointed out.

"You got me there," Wildwing said with a slightly forced smile. "So, who found her?"

"One of our doctors was out hiking with her family and her young daughter found Ducky washed up on the river bank," Charles explained. "The daughter decided that because of her long dress, our feathered friend in there was a princess."

"I guess that makes sense," Wildwing managed to reply, despite the nauseating thought of anyone mistaking that _thing_ for a princess. "What's wrong with her?"

"We're not entirely sure," Charles answered. "Physical examination and x-rays don't show any physical trauma other than a cut on the back of her hand. She was soaking wet and partially in the water when she was found. Given the length of the dress, she probably had to struggle to keep her head above water. We think she's just exhausted."

"She was just wearing the dress?" Wildwing asked.

"She has a gold belt on, too," Charles responded. "Normally, we remove clothing to examine unconscious patients, but we couldn't do that with her. The dress is made of some type of material that can't be cut. We broke two pair of scissors and a scalpel trying to make a nick in the material. Heck, we couldn't even figure out how to get that belt off. All we could do was dry her off as best we could and put her in a bed with lots of heated blankets. And if the dress and the belt weren't confounding enough, we couldn't even get an IV in her. Every time the needle touched her it would go shooting across the room. She's one strange duck."

"Yeah, really strange," Wildwing managed to reply as he tried not to show how freaked out he was becoming.

"I guess I better check up on her now that I know what vital signs we're looking for," Charles stated as he headed back into the room.

Wildwing didn't stop the man, but he did follow him. He would have liked to tell the doctor not to touch the thing in the bed. However, what could he say that wouldn't have the human thinking Wildwing had taken one too many pucks to the head?

He kept a safe distance as Charles approached the bed. He was ready to defend the man should the creature suddenly wake up and try anything. His heart was nearly in his throat when he saw the doctor carefully pull back the blankets.

He watched the blue beak's face carefully, doing his level best not to notice her shapely body. She was a monster and she stole the mask. He let his anger keep him focused as the doctor completed his examination.

"I don't suppose you know how to get this belt off, do you?" Charles requested.

"No, I don't," Wildwing quickly replied, desperately keeping the horror off of his face. "I'm just a goalie. Jewelery isn't part of my repertoire."

The mere thought of touching her sent shivers down his spine.

"You wouldn't know what the material of her dress is made from, would you?" Charles asked. "I've never seen anything like it before. There are no seams, so it looks like it was woven right onto her body. And even though she was found laying in the mud, there isn't a speck of dirt on it."

Wildwing thought for a moment and frowned at what he remembered.

"There's a material on my world that only the very, very rich can afford to own and it's very hard to get hold of," Wildwing hesitantly said. "Usually it's just a small piece, nothing as large or as complicated as a dress."

"What is it called?" Charles questioned.

"Spider silk and if the stories are to be believed, it really comes from a certain species of spider," Wildwing informed him. "But that species has been believed to be extinct for a couple centuries now."

"It might not be as extinct as you thought then," Charles replied. "Between her dress and her belt, she just might be a princess."

"We don't have royalty on my planet," Wildwing pointed out.

"Well, whoever she is, she's not hurting for money," Charles stated while he finished straightening the bedding."

"Other than what she's wearing, was anything else found with her?" Wildwing inquired.

"Other than the pins used to hold her hair up, what you see is what you get," Charles answered while he headed for the door. "I know that visiting hours are over, but I'd like it if you could stay. She'll probably be rather disoriented when she wakes up and it'll be helpful if she sees a face that at least looks a bit like hers."

"Of course," Wildwing readily agreed. "I'd be glad to."

"Great!" Charles happily said. "I'll let the nurses know so they don't give you any problems.

With that, the doctor left the room. As soon as the door was shut, he turned his attention back to the monster in the bed. He scowled at her as he folded his wings over his chest.

How did she escape with nothing more than a scratch on her hand? How did she get such extravagant wealth? What happened to her shoes and cloak? Most importantly, where was the mask?

* * *

"Hey, Duke!" she called as she hurried down the hall.

"What's up, Mallory?" Duke responded, stopping to wait for her while he wiped the sweat off of his face with the towel draped around his neck.

"I've been thinking," she stated as they started walking down the hallway.

"Want to be careful with that," he teased. "It might become habit forming."

"Haha, very funny," she grumbled.

"So, what were you thinking about?" he asked.

"Maybe I'm imagining things," she started, "but I could have sworn when that blue beak appeared, you dropped back."

"I told you I've run into a couple of them in the past," he reminded her as they reached his room. "They're a nasty bunch and hard to kill. Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn't intentionally tick one off."

"You were shooting right along with the rest of us," she pointed out.

"Call me an optimist," he replied with a shrug. "I had hoped that six to one odds would have gone in our favor. Still didn't want to be that close to her."

"Guess I can understand that," she mumbled.

"Good," he said as he stepped into his room. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a shower and then I'm hitting the hay. We've got an early day tomorrow."

She nodded her understanding before waving and heading to her own room. He closed and locked his door as soon as she was gone. He dodged the puck this time, but how much longer? If the blue beak really was still on Earth, sooner or later, his team would find out his connection to her.

* * *

It had been a heck of a long night and still she slept. He hadn't been as lucky. The chair that the hospital provided for visitors really wasn't meant to be slept in by a duck of his size. Of course, the interruptions hadn't helped either.

Nurses had come in every couple hours during the night to roll the blue beak over. One had told him it was to make sure she didn't get bedsores. He wasn't sure what those were, but they didn't sound comfortable. The last nurse had taken several of the blankets away and replaced them with new ones that were pre-warmed.

How he had wanted to warn them not to touch her. But how could he do that and not sound like he was completely nuts? They touched her when she had first came in and nothing bad had happened then. Besides, she was still unconscious, so it's not like she was in any condition to attack them.

He stood up and stretched, hearing his joints pop as he tried to get the kinks out. He looked out the window and could just see the sky starting to lighten up. It was almost morning and his team would soon be wondering where he was.

It finally dawned on him, she was still asleep. He doubted that she'd quietly just come with him back to The Pond. He had to get her out of here before she came to. But how?

There were humans all over the place and they'd surely notice him carrying her out. Chances were that they'd want to know where he was taking her and why. What could he tell them? That she had stolen his hockey mask and he was going to hold her prisoner until she gave it back?

He was sure that would go over well. He'd be lucky if they just kicked him out and not had him arrested for attempted kidnapping. Phil would lay eggs if he had to deal with that media fiasco.

He was going to need back up for this. He knew the others would be up and getting ready to continue searching for the mask. He decided to make sure she was still out cold before he called them in.

He quietly walked over to the bed and stared down at her. He refused to acknowledge that she was in the least bit attractive. He leaned over until their beaks were almost touching. He waved his hand in front of her face and got no reaction. Deciding that if all those humans could handle her and not be harmed, he could too.

He refused to think about all of the warnings he had grown up with concerning blue beaks as he slowly and carefully stretched a finger out toward her. The blankets had only been pulled up to her shoulders by the last nurse, so he gently poked her just above there.

The spark that jumped from where he touched her to the center of his chest moved slow enough for him to see it, but too fast for him to block it. He jumped back with a shout of surprise. He did a quick check of himself and other than the tingling sensation around his heart, he appeared to be unhurt.

He looked over to the bed and froze in place. She was sitting up and staring at him. She was NOT happy.

* * *

She gasped as a jolt of energy hit her in the chest. The yell of surprise from nearby drew her attention to the person who made it. She immediately sat up, ignoring the wave of dizziness and got ready to defend herself if necessary.

The startled look on his face when he realized she was awake was only slightly satisfying. She tried to keep an eye on him while also trying to figure out where she was. She didn't want to ask the duck who would sooner shoot her than talk to her where she was.

Fortunately, the door opened and a strange being came bustling in. The person was bipedal and female, but that was where the similarities ended. She couldn't help but stare at the being who had no feathers and no beak.

"Oh good, you're awake," the stranger happily proclaimed. "I'll go tell the doctor. Wildwing, why don't you fill her in on what's going on?"

She left as quickly as she came and the room was once more filled with silence.

"Who...? What...?" she started, still stunned by her strange surroundings.

"Where is it?" he quietly demanded, taking a bold step toward her.

A single glare from her stopped him dead in his tracks.

"It's safe," she answered simply as she started to push the bedding off of her legs.

She was still wet, so she knew she hadn't been out that long. She ached everywhere and she'd rather just go back to sleep, but she was quickly becoming cold. She didn't want to waste the power to magic the blankets off of her, so she did it the slow and hard way.

She finally got free of the blankets and slid out of the bed. Her legs didn't want to hold her at first and she quickly grabbed onto the nightstand. She concentrated on not falling, knowing that there would be no help coming from the only other person in the room.

Ignoring him for a moment, she concentrated on the fire living inside of her. She very carefully released enough of the living flame to dry herself off. She got some satisfaction in hearing him gasp in surprise as he quickly tried to put more distance between them.

With deliberate care, she sat down in the chair next to the bed. The being that had come in had mentioned a doctor, so she was probably in a hospital. She looked out the window as she brushed her loose hair out of her face and watched the sun slowly rising. She needed answers and right at that moment there was only one person who could give them.

"What planet are we on and what is the dominant species called?" she asked.

Wildwing just glared at her and crossed his wings over his chest.

"You can answer me of your own free will or I can force it out of you," she warned him.

It quickly became apparent he had no intention of answering her. So with a great deal of difficulty that she was careful not to show, she called the magic to her. She knew her eyes had started to glow and could see him shift nervously.

"Are you going to answer me?" she questioned.

She could see the muscles in his jaw bunch as he clamped his beak shut.

"Have it your way then," she sighed just before she released the magic at him. "Answer me!"

"We're on Earth and humans are the dominant species," he stiffly answered, fighting the compulsion, but losing the battle.

"I hate doing that," she softly stated as she looked back out the window while her eyes returned to their normal color. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to answer any more questions without me forcing it out of you."

"Maybe if you told me where the mask was," he shot back and that won him a full blown glare that should have singed his feathers.

"The Mask is NOT on the bargaining table," she snapped. "Even if it was, telling you where it is would be pointless. It's safely hidden and only I can retrieve it. Not that you've earned the right to wear it."

Before he could respond, the door opened again and another human came in.

"Hi there, I'm Dr. Paulson," the man said as he entered the room. "Why are you out of bed?"

"The bed is wet," she replied.

Paulson frowned and then opened the file in his hand. He quickly went over the notes the other doctors and nurses put in. As he was finishing up, Wildwing's communicator went off. Paulson frowned at the hockey playing duck.

"Please take that outside," Paulson requested rather forcefully.

Without a word, Wildwing left the room and she could feel herself relax a bit. She wasn't sure where that jolt of energy that had woken her had come from, but it wasn't helping her aches. She felt as if someone had hit her in the middle of her chest and her heart felt weird.

Instead of worrying about it, she turned her attention to the...human Wildwing had called them and answered his questions as best she could. He took her vital signs and then told her that he would send someone in to change the bedding and bring her breakfast. She thanked the doctor and watched him leave.

She turned her gaze back to the window and watched the sun rise over a planet that was much greener than her own. She wondered what would happen now. Without her there, the others wouldn't be able to open another portal. Not that they were interested in rescuing her. It was The Mask they were worried about.

They had never wanted it returned to the people. They had protected it for so long, it seemed like they forgot what it was created for. Maybe they worried that once it was gone, they would become obsolete.

They hadn't seen the damage the Saurians had done while she had. She knew first hand the pain those lizards had caused by returning to Puckworld. When it became apparent that they had no intention of finding a worthy candidate to wear The Mask, she had taken matters into her own wings.

She was the one who cast the spell that would bring the one who would pass the test and win the right to wear The Mask to Twin Beaks. It had taken her months to craft the spell and power it. She had to work in secret because she knew the others would have stopped her if they had known. The crafting of that spell was exhausting, but she knew she had only one shot.

The spell had been released and she knew when it had found the best duck for the job. She timed it just right so that she was the one on watch the night Canard had arrived at Twin Beaks. He had gotten into the cavern and accepted the challenge that had been laid out over the centuries since Drake DuCaine's passing.

She hadn't stopped him from starting and once started, nothing but failure or completion would stop the test. The tomb was sealed as soon as the test started and the others were unable to get in to stop Canard. They were furious when he emerged victorious and she had felt vindicated for all that she had lost.

Who could have predicted that the duck who had had the heart, compassion, courage and wisdom to win The Mask would break his promise?


	4. Peace Offering

"What have you got there, Wraith?" Lord Dragaunus asked as he came into the wizard's workshop and saw the three glowing orbs floating above the table.

"Duck feathers," Wraith answered as he carefully picked an orb and held it out for his lord to examine.

"Planning on stuffing a pillow?" Lord Dragaunus questioned while he carefully looked at the feather. "This isn't even a whole feather."

"Oh how I would love to fill my pillow with the feathers from this duck," Wraith replied. "This feather comes from a very special duck."

"What's so special about it?" Lord Dragaunus demanded as he handed the orb back. "None of those miserable mallards are that color."

"This isn't from Wildwing's team," Wraith explained to his master. "This feather came from a Puckworld mage. That strange energy reading we got was from the portal that brought him here."

"What!?" Lord Dragaunus shouted as his eyes took on a menacing glow and smoke came out of his nostrils. "You told me they were all dead!"

"I had assumed that the curse my dark ancestors had put on them would have done the job," Wraith responded, only slightly cowed by his lord's outburst. "It appears at least one has survived. But with these feathers, he will soon be taken off of the endangered species list and put on the extinct one. And if everything goes according to plan, the rest of the ducks will be joining him."

Wraith explained his plans for the ducks using the pieces of feather he found. As the plans unfolded, Lord Dragaunus's ire cooled and his evil laugh echoed down the corridors of The Raptor.

* * *

He stepped outside into the cool morning air after being shooed out by the nurses. When they said outside, they meant OUTSIDE!

"Wildwing here," he finally said into his communicator.

"There you are!" Tanya exclaimed. "I've been calling you for, like, the past five minutes."

"Sorry about that," he replied. "I couldn't respond where I was and had to leave before I could answer."

"Well, anyway, we're ready to go," she informed him. "Where the heck are you?"

"Ok," he responded. "Take the team and head for the site. Make sure you check along the river at the bottom of the hill too. I'm working on a lead here in town, so I won't be coming with you."

"Ok, will do," she replied before disconnecting.

Now that the blue beak was awake, there was no point in bringing in the team. In fact, it would probably be a hindrance since she might see it as an attack. Right now he needed to convince the nurses and doctors that he had her best interests at heart. Convincing them wouldn't be a problem, her on the other hand...

He was still trying to figure out what had been up with that spark. It hadn't killed him like all of those stories said would happen, which he was quite happy about. Still, she gave him the creeps with her blue beak and glowing eyes and the way she dried herself off. He shuddered at the memory of her entire body starting to glow a dull red, like a burning ember.

Creepy glowing eyes and body aside, she still was the only one who knew where the mask was. He was just going to have to make her believe that she needed his help to adjust to living on this world. He wasn't sure how he was going to do that since he doubted his team would be too thrilled about having her live with them. Putting her on the team just wasn't going to work.

His stomach suddenly rumbled and he realized he had skipped dinner. He saw a coffee shop across the street and headed for it to find something to eat. While waiting in line, he figured that maybe he should bring her something too. If he missed dinner because he was too busy, then she most certainly had since she had been unconscious all that time.

He slowly made his way to the front trying to think what she might like. He didn't want to disappoint her by getting something she wouldn't like. He gave himself a quick mental shake.

"What is wrong with me?" he quietly grumbled to himself.

Why should he care if she liked what he brought? Ok, if she hated it, she might not cooperate. But it was the thought that counted, right?

He stared at the food display and tried to think of what to bring her. Should he get her something sweet or something hearty? What about something to drink? Hot? Cold? Straight coffee or a blended drink?

In the end, he just doubled his own order and hoped for the best. He worried about being gone too long, in case she decided to tell people that he was the reason she was in the hospital in the first place. As soon as he had the food and drinks, he turned to leave and came face to face with his adoring fans.

He sighed with resignation and put down the food and drinks. As soon as they were safely out of the way, he started to sign autographs and had his picture taken with more people than he thought actually live in Anaheim.

* * *

By the time he made it back to her room, his hand was only just starting to uncramp and the spots in front of his eyes were beginning to fade. At least the owner of the shop had been nice enough to get him fresh drinks as the first ones had cooled to lukewarm temperatures. With what he hoped was a pleasant look on his face, he entered her room.

She was back in the bed and the head of the bed had been raised so she could lean back and watch the TV. She was still wearing the dress, but the belt was now laying on the nightstand. A quick glance at the TV showed it was on the local news channel.

"Oh, you're back," she said with all of the enthusiasm of someone who had been told she had to go through an unpleasant medical procedure.

"I got you some coffee and breakfast," he said trying to sound cheerful.

"The Mask isn't for sale," she stated as she turned her attention back to the TV.

"Even if I was trying to buy the mask back, I wouldn't be trying to buy it with a cup of coffee and a pastry," he retorted before pulling his ire in. "Listen, I'm just trying to make peace. You're new to this planet. I just want to help out."

She chuckled low in her throat and he frowned at her.

"What's so funny?" he asked, a bit peeved.

"You," she replied with a smirk. "I can detect a lie a mile away, so you might as well save it for someone who will actually believe you. You aren't bringing me peace offerings because you want to help or you feel sorry for me or you want to be my friend. I don't need my powers to tell that the only thing you want is The Mask."

"Listen, the Saurians are on this planet," he heatedly told her. "Without the mask, we won't be able to defeat them."

"The truth," she conceded with a nod. "Or at least the truth that you believe. However, you've been here for over a year and you still haven't caught them, even though you had The Mask. Maybe doing without it will help you with your fighting skills."

"We've at least kept them from taking over this planet," he shot back. "But we won't even be able to do that if we don't have the mask."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't just give you The Mask," she sighed as she shifted around in the bed, pulling her long hair over her shoulder so she was no longer sitting on it.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"Because you haven't earned it," she answered.

"I've been leading my team for over a year," he snapped, his patience thinning. "We have kept Lord Dragaunus and his goons from taking over this planet. We've even helped the humans with their own villains."

"While that's all very admirable, it doesn't change the fact that you didn't earn the right to wear it," she calmly replied.

"So, how do I earn the right?" he demanded.

"You must accept and complete The Challenge," she answered.

"Ok, how do I take this challenge?" he asked.

"Well, first, we get back to Puckworld," she told him.

"Sorry, I don't have a dimensional gateway generator handy," he growled.

"Well, there was that handy portal that brought me here," she sweetly replied. "Too bad you blew it up."

"I couldn't let you get away with the mask," he shot back.

"Instead, you've stranded me here and you still don't have The Mask," she pointed out. "If you had followed me through the portal, you could have had a chance to go through The Challenge."

"Did Canard take this challenge to get the mask?" he questioned.

"Yes," she answered simply.

"What is this challenge?" he asked. "Can't you set up something here and let me take it?"

She let out a less than ladylike snort.

"The Challenge was designed and created by dozens of mages over the past several centuries," she informed him. "It tests a duck's heart, compassion, courage and wisdom. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"What's a mage?" he questioned a bit perplexed by the term.

"I'm a mage," she nearly growled in response.

"But you're a blue beak," he stated without thinking and then saw her eyes start to glow as her face became a mask of anger.

"Go away," she snarled.

Belatedly, he realized that blue beak was probably more of a derogatory term than a complementary one for her. Luckily for him, before she could blast him into a pile of smoldering feathers, a nurse came in.

"Oh good, you're back," the nurse happily said upon seeing him. "The doctor didn't want to release her until he was sure she had a place to go. He's making the rounds right now, but he should be in soon. As soon as he signs her off, you'll be free to go."

The nurse left as quickly as she had come and the room was silent except for the TV. She was pointedly not looking at him and instead was glaring at the TV. He hung his head and it took him several seconds to remember what he was holding. He moved to the far side of the bed, gently putting the bag and coffees down on the nightstand.

"Here's your food," he softly said.

He took his cup and sat down in the chair that he had tried to sleep in all night. She didn't say anything and made no move to touch the food or drink. He let out a quiet sigh and watched the news with her.

She hadn't thrown him out the window, so that was a good sign, he hoped. At least she hadn't objected to the nurse suggesting she leave with him. Of course, he wasn't sure what he was going to do with her once he had her out of there. Would one of his holding cells even be able to hold her?

He sat there, drinking his coffee, wondering if he should apologize. On the one wing, he had obviously insulted her. On the other, she had taken the mask.

He scowled at nothing, trying to figure out what to do. Why did he care what she felt? She was a thief, he was pretty sure. It wasn't like she could back up her claim that she was...What did she call herself?...a Keeper of The Mask of Drake DuCaine. Yeah, right.

The volume was suddenly turned up on the TV. He looked up at the screen and immediately cringed. They were doing a piece on the exhibition game they were doing in a couple of nights, making sure to mention that they had won the Stanley Cup last season.

"I can see you've been working really hard to catch the Saurians," she stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"The Saurians have been hiding since we got here," he explained "Trying to convince the humans they're here without proof would only make them think we're crazy. Playing hockey is our front. When we're not playing, we're looking for them."

"Like you were yesterday?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" he shot back angrily. "We're not allowed to take a break every once and a while?"

"I'm sure Lord Dragaunus doesn't mind at all putting his plans on hold while you and your team go on a picnic," she retorted.

He scowled at her. This wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

"You getting anything with that thing?" Mallory asked while she searched under some bushes.

"I'm, you know, getting plenty of readings, but they're confusing," Tanya admitted as she carefully scanned the meadow with the hand held device. "The energy readings are all over the place."

"You mean that there's so much energy from the explosion that it's overloading your gizmo?" Duke tried to clarify.

"I mean that there's more than one type of energy signature and it's confusing my energy reader," Tanya replied grumpily.

"Well, here might be part of your problem," Mallory stated, pointing to the ground.

The other two came over to see what she had found.

"Looks like Siege came and paid a visit last night after we left," Mallory said with disgust while glaring at the foot and tail prints in the mud.

"That's actually good," Tanya declared as she started fiddling with her device. "I can set the reader to discount the energy readings from the Saurian's teleporter."

Mallory and Duke went back to looking for the mask while Tanya kept making adjustments.

"There!" Tanya happily exclaimed a short time later. "That should do it."

Tanya then proceeded to go over to the blast site and take readings from the blackened spot on the ground. She was kneeling next to the small crater before a random thought came to her.

"You know, guys, I've been thinking," Tanya said as she refined the readings she was getting.

"About what?" Mallory asked before Duke could make any jokes.

"About the blue beak," Tanya replied. "Doesn't she remind you of anyone?"

"You mean other than something out of a nightmare?" Mallory questioned.

"I mean like someone we know from Puckworld," Tanya responded a bit impatiently.

"Like who?" Mallory inquired.

"Amber Rotente," Tanya answered.

"What!?" Duke sputtered a bit forcefully. "Are you nuts? There's no way that _thing_ is related to Amber."

"I didn't say they were related," Tanya replied indignantly. "I just said that they looked a bit alike. Besides, we all know that Amber's family is dead. You especially, Duke."

"Now that you mention it, yeah, they do look a bit alike," Mallory agreed. "If Amber suddenly had a fixed leg and had gone completely evil, then she'd be a dead ringer."

"That gizmo of yours picking up anything else?" Duke asked a bit testily.

"It looks like Wraith was here too," Tanya answered. "I've managed to isolate the energy readings of the portal. That should allow me to find the readings for the blue beak if she's somewhere around here."

She stood back up and started to scan the area. After a few passes around the meadow, she narrowed her search down.

"Looks like the blast knocked her into these trees," Tanya told them while she walked towards the trees in question. "You can see the broken branches where she went through."

She slowly moved through the small stand of trees, scanning each tree as she went along. She stopped at a tree right next to the cliff and looked down. The river was just below them.

"That's quite the drop," Mallory observed as she came up beside Tanya. "Do you think she went over the edge?"

"Judging from the height of the broken branches and, you know, the angle, I'd say it's more than likely," Tanya responded.

"Do you think she survived?" Mallory asked.

"Oh, she survived," Duke replied with a near growl. "If she could survive having six of us empty our clips at her without even blinking, she could survive being dropped into a river."

Before anyone can say any more about the durability of blue beaks, they heard the sound of someone climbing up the side of the cliff.

"A little help here!?" Nosedive called.

"What are you doing down there?" Mallory demanded as she and Duke grabbed him by the wings.

"Getting dirt up my beak," Nosedive replied while they dragged him up.

"There are easier ways to get up here, ya know," Tanya pointed out.

"Yeah, but none of those ways had these!" Nosedive happily told her as he reached behind himself and pulled out a pair of dress shoes with a low heel. "Ta da!"

"So?" Mallory asked, unimpressed.

"A little dressy to be out here, don't ya think?" Nosedive countered.

"You think that these are the blue beak's?" Mallory questioned while Tanya turned her device on the footwear.

"Stands to reason, doesn't it?" Nosedive responded.

"These have the same energy readings as the blast mark," Tanya confirmed.

"If it wouldn't be too much bother," a deep voice said from the side of the cliff.

"Oops!" Nosedive yelped as he dropped the shoes and dashed over to the edge. "Sorry about that, Grinster."

It took all four of them to pull the final member of the team up. Once he was on solid footing again, he pulled a large piece of cloth off of his belt and dropped it to the ground with a wet SPLAT!

"Oh, we found the blue beak's cloak at the edge of the river, too," Nosedive happily explained.

"Ok, that explains where she went after the blast, but that doesn't tell us where she or the mask are now," Mallory pointed out.

"Actually, I might have a clue," Tanya stated as she turned to one of the trees on the edge of the cliff. "There are some strong readings coming from this tree."

"I don't see anything different about it," Duke stated.

"That's because whatever is giving off the reading is somewhere up this tree," Tanya explained. "Who wants to climb up there and check it out?"

The ducks looked at each other for a minute.

"I'll do it," Duke offered with a sigh. "Give me that gizmo and tell me how it works."

Tanya spent the next couple minutes telling him how to use the reader. Once he was sure he understood how it worked, he tucked it into the back of his belt and raised his wing toward the tree. He released the grappling hook into the upper branches of the pine tree and allowed it to pull him up.

The others watched from the ground as Duke climbed from branch to branch. He carefully scanned the branches and trunk, ever mindful that one misstep would get him a one way ticket to the ground. Finally, he found the strongest readings coming from the trunk a good fifteen feet from the ground.

"Ok, I've got something right here," Duke announced. "But I'm not seeing anything."

"Is there a hole or a crack or anything?" Tanya asked. "Someplace that you could hide the mask?"

"You think she had time to hide the mask while flying through the air?" Mallory asked with disbelief.

"Well, you know, it's a thought," Tanya replied with a shrug.

"There's nothing up here," Duke interrupted while he examined the tree. "It's just solid trunk."

"Oh my goodness, it's the Mighty Ducks!" a new voice exclaimed from behind them.

The ducks turned and saw a man wearing a park ranger uniform coming towards them and a look of awe on his face.

"This is so cool!" the man said. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Communing with Nature." "Getting fresh air." "Training exercises." "Looking for new species."

The ducks on the ground all answered at once and Duke rolled his good eye.

"So, what's he doing up in the tree?" the ranger asked, pointing up at Duke.

"What a better way to get some exercise and fresh air than by climbing a tree," Duke hastily suggested. "Gets you closer to nature and possible new critters too."

"Yeah...Right," the man replied and it was obvious he was having a hard time believing their excuses. "Listen, that's all...Um...very cool and everything, but you're not supposed to be off the trails. You're really not allowed to climb the trees."

"Oh, right, sorry about that," Duke hurriedly responded. "Be right down."

Duke quickly started to climb down on the far side of the tree. He carefully kept Tanya's device out of the human's sight. After making sure it was securely tucked into the back of his belt, Duke stepped out from behind the tree.

"I hate to do this to you guys, but you really can't stay here," the ranger stated when it appeared that the ducks weren't moving.

Various forms of "Oh right" and "Sorry" were uttered as they quickly gathered up the blue beak's belongings. They headed back to The Migrator, cutting across the meadow to get there. The sound of the ranger sighing cause them to stop and turn.

"Just look at what a bunch of kids did to this beautiful meadow," he stated with a shake of his head. "They smashed all of the beautiful flowers and had a bonfire. It's a good thing that nothing caught fire or things could have gotten out of hand pretty quickly."

The team realized that the man thought the blast and trampled plants were caused by a bunch of partying kids. Trying not to look guilty, they quickly headed back to the battle van. With a wave to the ranger, they closed the hatch and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Busted," Nosedive muttered under his breath as they drove away.


	5. Getting Out of There

Her chest hurt and she felt miserable. The verbal sparring between herself and Wildwing had lasted several minutes before she threw one last barb and turned her back on him. She never relished the battle of wits and wills she would have with the other mages, but those bouts had never made her physically ill. She could feel her heart pound uncomfortably, she was having trouble breathing and it felt like she was about to lose her breakfast.

She hastily pushed the blankets off of her legs and stumbled into the bathroom. She shut and locked the door behind her in case he thought he needed to follow her. She stood there, leaning against the door, willing her body to calm down.

After she had gotten herself back under control, she tried to figure out what brought on her ill feelings. The first time she had felt anywhere near that bad was when the Saurians had taken everything from her. She quickly pushed those memories away before she had a panic attack. Having a panic attack in a hospital would be bad...very, very bad.

It took her several minutes to get herself completely under control again. Once she felt she had a handle on herself, she explored the small room. The hospital had provided some basic toiletries and she decided to take advantage of it.

She used magic to make sure her clothes were dry after she washed them. As much as she hated to use what little energy she had, she had no desire to use the fire within her again. It was much too dangerous.

She took a long hot shower, reveling in the feeling. It had been so long since she last had one, she had almost forgotten how wonderful they felt. The fact that the hot water never seemed to run out was even better.

When she was done, it took quite some time to comb out her hair and she broke several of the teeth on the comb they provided. Once the long strands were relatively knot free, she braided her hair and then realized she had no way to tie the ends. With some finesse and a bit more power than she wanted to use, she managed to unweave a few strands of thread from her dress.

Not caring that her hair was still damp and would take a long time to dry in the braid, she finally left the bathroom. She paused for a moment when she saw that he was still there. With her beak held high, she continued her journey to the bed. As much as she would like to kick him out, she was on a strange world and he was the only person she 'knew' to guide her in this new place.

"I'm sorry," he quietly uttered.

She stopped mid-step and looked at him in surprise. By the expression on his face, it appeared he had startled himself as well. Not trusting herself to speak, she simply nodded and then climbed back into bed. It took her a minute to rearrange the dress so it wasn't pulling one way or another and then she settled down to watch what the humans considered entertainment.

"What's it made of?" he asked.

"What?" she questioned in confusion.

"You're dress," he clarified. "What is it made of?"

"Spider silk," she answered.

"That stuff is next to impossible to get even a scrap of," he stated suspiciously. "How did you get enough of it to make a dress with?"

"It's not hard to get if you're one of the ones who make it," she pointed out.

"What!?" he exclaimed in shock. "Those spiders are extinct!"

"When it became illegal to be a mage, the mages left and took the spiders with them," she explained. "We're the only ones who can safely harvest the silk, so there was no point in leaving them behind."

"Being a mage is illegal?" he asked, stunned.

"About a hundred years after the Saurians were first defeated, some politician made it his campaign promise to get rid of all of the mages," she told him bitterly. "Out of all of the promises he made, _that_ was the one he kept."

She looked back to the TV, though she wasn't really paying attention to it. The memory of learning that bit of Puckworld history still left a bitter taste in her beak. She ignored the segment on dog fashion tips as she worked at keeping herself calm.

"Where did the mages go?" he quietly asked after a couple of minutes passed.

"Someplace safe," she vaguely answered. "Someplace that only a mage or someone called to it would be able to find."

"Twin Beaks," he stated several moments later. "Canard told me he found the mask in a tomb at a place called Twin Beaks."

"Found?" she snorted a smile tugged at the corners of her beak. "I guess that beats trying to explain how he managed to escape being turned into a mindless slave that was never allowed to play hockey again."

"How did you know?" he started, shock written all over his face.

"That to touch a mage is to invite death?" she started, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "That the only good mage is a dead one?"

She looked him dead in the eye and got some small bit of satisfaction at the stunned look on his face. She decided she might as well drop the other skate.

"I wasn't hatched this way," she sadly told him. "At one time, my beak looked just like yours."

* * *

He had watched her stagger into the bathroom and tried to ignore the feeling of his heart being squeezed. After hearing the shower start, he felt about 2 inches tall. He remembered his mom going into the bathroom to have a good cry when raising two boys by herself had become too much. She would turn on the shower to cover the sound of her sobs.

When she had finally come out, he had surprised both of them by apologizing. He hadn't meant to, but she had accepted it, so he moved on.

He wasn't sure why he asked about her dress. Maybe he was just trying to figure out how she managed to get enough of such a rare material to make an entire dress. Maybe the mask wasn't the only thing she had stolen.

Instead he had learned a little something about spider silk, an obscure law and Twin Beaks. But her admission that she hadn't always been a mage was what had left him with his beak hanging open.

* * *

"Hey, Grin, do you remember Amber Rotente?" Tanya asked as they drove through the outskirts of Anaheim.

"Of course," Grin answered. "She is a kind and gentle duck. A truly evolved soul."

"Who?" Nosedive questioned.

"Amber Rotente was sort of the den mom/mascot/general of the resistance," Mallory explained. "She knew everyone and everything that was going on and everyone loved her. Duke was the one who rescued her from the remains of her family's home after the first wave of attacks."

"You and Wildwing never got to meet her," Duke told him. "She was organizing the resistance in another city when Canard finished pulling the team together. She's a good kid. She was hatched with a bum leg, so she needs crutches to get around."

"I wonder if she ever got the surgery to fix her leg," Tanya mused.

"She had that surgeon that was always following her around like a lost puppy," Mallory pointed out. "He probably did it when things got back to normal."

"He had it bad for her," Grin chuckled.

"Boy did he," Tanya snickered.

"Ok, now that we've had this trip down memory lane, what does this Amber have to do with anything?" Nosedive asked.

"Tanya thinks she and the blue beak look a lot alike," Mallory replied.

Grin got a startled look on his face before a frown creased his forehead.

"The similarities are...disquieting," Grin conceded unhappily.

* * *

A quiet knock on the door drew their attention to that portal. Dr. Paulson stood there, looking at them, concern clearly written on his face.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Paulson asked.

"No, of course not, doctor," she pleasantly responded. "Please, come in."

Wildwing kept quiet as the doctor asked her how she was feeling and then did another check on her vital signs. He wasn't sure how he felt about finding out that at one point she had been a perfectly normal duck. He wondered what had happened to turn her into a mage.

Had a mage suddenly decided to turn her into someone like him or her? Had she touched a mage and have a spark jump out and hit her in the chest like touching her had done to him? Was he, at that moment, becoming a mage himself?

"Well, I don't see a reason to keep you here any longer," Paulson announced, interrupting Wildwing's train of thought.

"Good," she sighed in relief. "As lovely as your hospital is, I'd really like to get out of here."

"I imagine you do," Paulson said with a smile. "Unfortunately, there is the matter of the bill."

"Send it to Phil Palmfeather at The Pond," Wildwing instructed as he stood up. "He's our manager. He loves getting that type of stuff."

He heard a stifled giggle, but when he looked at her, her face was completely straight.

"Ok, will do," Paulson replied as he noted it down in her file. "I'll just give this to the nurse. Then we'll get you a wheelchair and you'll be on your way."

"Why do I need a wheelchair?" she asked and Wildwing could see she wasn't enamored by the idea of riding in one. "I can walk just fine."

"Hospital policy," Paulson replied with a shrug. "Everyone gets to ride out in style. I'll just get this taken care of and then you can go."

Paulson hustled out of the room before she could pose anymore objections.

"You have something against wheelchairs?" he asked.

"Just memories," she replied before she looked at him and the corner of her beak twitched. "Your manager enjoys getting surprise bills?"

"No, but we like to keep him on his toes," he answered.

She laughed and he suddenly had a hard time breathing. It concerned him that making her laugh made him feel good. What was wrong with him?

"You should get your stuff together," he suggested.

She nodded her agreement and she turned to the nightstand. She paused at the sight of the cardboard cup and paper bag sitting there. They were between her and her belt.

"The coffee is probably cold, but the food should still be good," he told her and she gingerly picked the items up.

"Thank you," she softly said as she opened the bag.

"You're welcome," he quietly replied and she let out a gasp.

"It's been over a year since I've had chocolate," she admitted in a reverent tone as she pulled the chocolate croissant out of the bag. "Thank you."

"Not a problem," he responded, finding it hard to breathe again. "I'm going to use the bathroom real quick."

He beat a hasty retreat into the small room. He gasped for breath, scared about his reaction to her. He quickly checked his reflection in the mirror, carefully examining his beak for any signs of color change.

What was wrong with him?

After he finally pulled himself together, he exited the bathroom. He nearly got his toes ran over by the man pushing a wheelchair into the room. He stood out of the way as the man pulled the chair up to the bed and the nurse came in a second later.

The humans fussed over her, helping her to get situated in the chair. She didn't appear too happy to be there, but they didn't seem to notice. The nurse gave her a pair of slippers that didn't look like they'd last for more than a few minutes if she tried walking around in them.

He could see that she had put her belt back on and that the coffee cup was in both of her hands. He slightly frowned at the way she was nearly crushing the cup. He wondered what memories could have her upset over a wheelchair.

Before he could do more than wonder, they were on the move. He followed the man pushing the chair while the nurse waved goodbye to them. She returned to her station as they headed for the elevator.

Soon, they were stepping out into the bright spring sunshine. He was instructed to go get his vehicle while they waited there. He quickly trotted across the parking lot to his bike.

He barely managed to control his speed as he headed back. He couldn't wait to get back to The Pond and his own bunk. Getting some real food in him wouldn't be a bad thing either.

As soon as he pulled in front of the hospital, she was on her feet. The man looked a bit worried, but she just smiled at him reassuringly and he left. Wildwing sat back and waited for her to get on, not relishing the idea of having her so close to him.

"You're joking, right?" she demanded.

"About what?" he countered with a frown.

"Um...hello? Motorcycles and long dresses don't mix," she pointed out.

"Well, do that glowing eye thing you do and turn the skirt into pants, mage," he impatiently instructed as he started to lose patience.

"No, goalie, I won't," she snapped back.

"You know my name," he reminded her heatedly.

"And you haven't even bothered to learn mine," she retorted.

Belatedly, he realized that she was right.

"Fine," he grumbled. "What's your name?"

She opened her beak to answer him.

"PRINCESS DUCKY!"

* * *

They had returned to The Pond to find that Wildwing still wasn't back from wherever he had gone off to. They did find a fretting Phil nearly pulling his hair out. There was a hardware store that wanted the ducks to come to their grand opening and they were insisting that Wildwing wear the mask. The ducks left their manager to his worrying while they went off to do their own things.

Nosedive decided to spend some quality time with the new comic books he had bought the night before. Grin was off watching a show on the history of hockey. Tanya went off to download her energy readings into Drake One in hopes that it could be used to find the blue beak. She also took the blue beak's shoes and cloak for further study. Both Duke and Mallory were of like minds and headed for the mall.

They never dreamed what they would find there.

* * *

**Author's Notes: ** Yeah me! Grin actually has dialog and isn't in the corner meditating. Because of the length of the next scene, I'm cutting this chapter off here.


	6. Princess Ducky

They both got surprised looks on their faces.

"PRINCESS DUCKY!" the voice shrieked again.

Both ducks turned towards the owner of that loud, high pitched voice. A little dark haired, dark eyed girl of about three was running towards them with a man with dark blond hair and blue eyes in hot pursuit.

"Come back here!" the man shouted in exasperation and the ducks wondered if they were going to need to interfere.

The little girl ran into the mage's leg going full tilt before the man could catch her. Amazingly, the mage only staggered a little bit as the girl latched onto her leg.

"I'm so sorry about that," the man gasped as he caught up with the child and reached for her. "Sweetie, you have to let the nice lady duck go now."

"NO!" the girl yelled. "Want Princess Ducky!"

"I am really sorry about this," the man repeated as he tried to catch the girl who was now scooting around the mage's legs, staying out of his reach.

"I'm guessing you're the ones who found me?" the mage asked in amusement.

"Yeah, hi," the man said as he quickly shook her hand. "I'm Raleigh Becket and this is my daughter Gipsy. We were just coming to pick my wife up so we could go out to lunch."

"It's nice to meet you," she replied with a smile on her beak, obviously entertained by the child. "Thank you so much for helping me. I'm-"

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shouted at the top of her little lungs.

"Honey, that's not her real name," Raleigh tried to tell his daughter.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shrieked, obviously starting to get upset.

"Raleigh, what's going on?" a soft woman's voice asked.

They turned to see a short, fairly thin Asian woman coming through the doors. Her short hair came to her chin and the blue streaks helped frame her pretty face . She was professionally dressed, though her blouse was a bit loose around her middle.

"Hi, Mako," Raleigh greeted with a smile, his jeans and T-shirt a complete contrast to his wife's attire. "I'm trying to convince our daughter to let the nice duck go."

"I'm sorry," Mako said to the mage. "Gipsy, let go of her leg please."

It took both parents to catch and then peel the little girl off of the mage's legs. Instead of stepping away from the child, she knelt down in front of the girl.

"Hello, Gipsy, I'm...," she started.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy gleefully screeched.

She squirmed out of her parents hold and launched herself at the duck before anyone could even blink. That time, she wasn't ready for the attack and ended up suddenly on her tail feathers. Instead of being upset, she laughed while the girl wrapped her arms around the duck's neck. With a delighted grin, she wrapped her arms around the child.

"To move this story along, let's just stick with Princess Ducky for now," she suggested from her spot on the ground.

"I am so, so sorry," Raleigh said again as he came over and helped her to her feet.

"It's all right," Ducky assured him when she regained her footing. "I used to work at a duckling care facility back home and I was studying to become a teacher. I love little ones."

"We should get going," Wildwing stated as he got off the bike and stood next to Ducky.

"Wingwing!" Gipsy shrieked with delight as she launched herself at Wildwing.

He stood there with the most dumbfounded look on his face while the human child hung from his neck. Ducky did her level best not to laugh. She really did.

"Ah geez," Raleigh exclaimed as he made a grab for his daughter. "Sorry, she's a big Mighty Ducks fan. Ok, sweetheart, you've given Wildwing his hug, but you have to let go now."

Raleigh gave a sigh of relief as his daughter complied and grabbed hold of her father's neck.

"We should let you go," Raleigh said while he quickly backed away.

"NO!" Gipsy cried as she made another lunge for Ducky. "Princess Ducky!"

"Sorry, honey, Wildwing and Princess Ducky need to leave now," Raleigh told his child as he desperately tried to hold onto her squirming body.

"NOOOOOOOO!" wailed the little girl while she wildly grabbed for Ducky.

He quickly moved away as Gipsy started to cry heart wrenching sobs.

"You're not planning on riding on that, are you?" Mako asked in her accented voice, a frown creasing her face.

"It's how I got here," Wildwing explained. "I wasn't expecting to have a passenger when I left."

"So you don't have an extra helmet either?" Mako questioned.

"No," Wildwing admitted.

"Then she can't ride with you," Mako stated. "It is illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet in the state of California. And even if you did, she's not dressed for it. The skirt of her dress would get caught in the spokes of the back wheel and she would be thrown from the bike. I'd rather not have her show up on my operating table."

"What kind of doctor are you?" Wildwing asked.

"Neurosurgeon," Mako answered. "I specialize in head trauma.'

"I'm afraid I don't have anything else to wear," Ducky admitted as she pulled her skirt up to reveal her feet. "I don't even have shoes."

Wildwing narrowed his eyes at Ducky and she just smiled back.

"Give me a minute," Mako instructed as she headed over to Raleigh.

"What are you up to?" Wildwing quietly demanded of the mage that just barely came up to his beak.

"What do you mean?" Ducky asked, acting completely innocent.

"You know what I mean," he softly snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied sweetly. "Am I not cooperating with your plans to lock me up somewhere until I had over The Mask?"

He just glared at her.

"As fun and exciting as _that_ sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to decline," she continued.

"Just get on the bike," he ground out through his beak.

"And end up on Mako's operating table?" she questioned. "Thank you, but no."

"Just do whatever it is you do and turn the dress into pants," he demanded.

"Have you got a couple days to spare?" she asked.

"What!?" he exclaimed. "No! Why would it take a couple days?"

"Because I have to unweave the skirt, strand by strand and then reweave them into pant legs," she explained. "That's why the dress doesn't have seams. It's a time consuming and exhausting process."

"How long did it take you to make that dress?" he questioned suspiciously.

"I didn't make it," she answered. "I found it in storage."

"In storage?" he huffed. "So you couldn't be bothered with something new or at least more practical?"

"When your very existence is illegal, you can't exactly take a trip to the mall to go shopping for a new outfit,"she replied bitterly. "When I picked this dress, I wasn't planning on doing more than an out and back trip. I certainly wasn't expecting to nearly be blown up and stranded on another planet."

"If you hadn't taken the mask, I wouldn't have blown up the portal," he shot back.

"And if Canard had hadn't given you The Mask, then I wouldn't have had to come and retrieve it," she snapped taking a step towards him.

He didn't mean to back down, but a lifetime of fear couldn't be conquered in one morning. He took an involuntary step back and nearly fell over his bike.

"Is everything ok?" Raleigh asked, concern etched on his face.

"We're fine, thank you," Ducky assured him with a slightly forced smile. "There wouldn't be a mall around here, would there?"

"Yeah, there's one just a few blocks from here," Raleigh replied.

"We can drop you off there, if you like," Mako offered as she walked up holding a subdued Gipsy.

"Princess Ducky?" Gipsy asked hopefully.

"I can take her," Wildwing stated.

"No, you can't," Mako replied forcefully, scowling at the large white duck. "Not while she's wearing that dress and you have no second helmet. We'll take her and you can follow."

Wildwing opened his beak to argue, but Raleigh stopped him.

"Trust me, Wildwing, there are some fights you're just not going to win," Raleigh told him. "I'll go get the car. Gipsy, are you going to come with Daddy or stay with Mommy?"

"Stay with Princess Ducky!" Gipsy exclaimed.

She made a lunge for Ducky, but Mako twisted in such a way so the girl couldn't reach her target.

"Nice try, sweetheart, but Mommy's got you now," Raleigh said with a grin. "I'll be back in a minute."

Raleigh took off at a trot without a backwards glance. Wildwing conceded to the fact that he wasn't going to get back to The Pond anytime soon and sat down on his bike. He watched as Gipsy continued to squirm around, trying to get out of her mother's arms.

"Gipsy, I'll come stand by your mommy, but you have to stop wiggling around," Ducky told the child. "Can you do that for me?"

"Ok," Gipsy replied as she settled down for a moment.

However, no sooner did Ducky move within range and the child started reaching for her.

"You have to stay with your mommy or I'm going to have to go stand by Wingwing," Ducky warned.

"My name is Wildwing," he grumbled as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't know," she replied with a grin. "Wingwing is kind of endearing."

He gave her a full blown glare and Mako had to turn her back to him so he wouldn't see her silently laughing. Ducky had no problem letting him see her amusement.

"Will you be joining the Mighty Ducks?" Mako asked once she could control herself.

"No," Ducky answered before Wildwing could open his beak. "I'm not a very good hockey player."

"How is that possible?" he asked, stunned that any duck from Puckworld wouldn't be any good at hockey.

"I was very uncoordinated when I was younger," she explained. "So I spent more of my time reading than playing. I think my friends were relieved when I didn't play. I was a menace with a stick."

"How bad?" he inquired.

"I could stand in front of a goal with no goalie in sight and still miss the shot," she told him.

"Wow," was all he could think to say.

While he digested that bit of information, Raleigh drove up in his SUV. The decals on the doors proclaimed that it belonged to Becket Construction. As soon as the vehicle stopped, Mako opened the back door. Raleigh got out and opened the other back door. The parents then started the wrestling match to try and get their daughter into her car seat.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shrieked as she reached for the alien duck.

"Would you like me to sit next to you?" Ducky asked the girl over her mother's shoulder.

"Yes!" Gipsy happily yelled.

"Then you need to sit down and get strapped in," Ducky told her.

Gipsy immediately complied and was quickly strapped into her seat.

"Can we adopt you?" Raleigh asked her. "I've never been able to get her into her seat so easily."

"I'm a novelty," Ducky laughed. "Once that wore off, all three of us would be trying to get her into her seat."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighed as they climbed into the truck.

In short order, they were on the move with Wildwing following behind them.

"What type of exchange system do you have on this planet?" Ducky asked the humans. "Do you have a barter system or a monetary system?"

"We use money to pay for services and goods," Raleigh explained. "I don't mean to be nosy, but what is your belt made of?"

"It's gold and mostly rubies, but there are a few diamonds in there," Ducky answered.

"You do realize you're wearing a small fortune, right?" he questioned.

"It's good to know that they're worth something," Ducky replied as she played with the links of her belt.

"Listen, I know someone who might know someone who could probably give you a good deal on the belt," he told her while he turned into a parking lot. "If you didn't want to sell the whole thing, you could probably just do a couple links at a time. I could give him a call if you like."

"That would be great," Ducky replied. "Thank you."

He pulled into a parking space and turned off the SUV. She got out at the same time as Mako and got out of the mother's way as the woman went to get her daughter out of her seat. She could hear Raleigh on the other side of the vehicle talking to someone named Stacker. He finished the call just as Wildwing walked up to them.

"Ok, my friend is going to ask around a bit and then he'll get back to me," Raleigh told her as he swung Gipsy up onto his shoulders. "Since it might take a while, why don't you two join us for lunch?"

"We wouldn't want to intrude," Wildwing started and Ducky actually agreed with him.

"It's all right," Mako assured them. "It's not every day we get to have lunch with a famous hockey player, much less someone new to our world. Besides, if I know the hospital, they kicked you out before they fed you lunch."

"Yes, they did," Ducky admitted. "Lunch sounds lovely. Thank you."

"Great!" Raleigh said as he lead them into the mall. "I know just the place."

The man headed straight towards the back of the open air mall to a little out of the way diner. Despite the normal lunch time rush, they didn't have long to wait for a table. It took them a moment to get situated and Wildwing found himself sitting across from Ducky. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that since their knees and feet kept bumping into each other.

Not a lot of talking was done while they looked over their menus. Fortunately, Gipsy was more interested in drawing with the crayons the hostess had given her than trying to escape the highchair situated between her parents. After the orders were given and the drinks brought over, Ducky started trying to get more information about this new planet. However, Gipsy suddenly realized that she wasn't next to Ducky anymore and started to struggle to get out of her seat.

"Gipsy," Ducky called to the child.

"Princess Ducky," Gipsy whined as she reached for her new best friend.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" Ducky offered.

"YES! Story!" Gipsy squealed with delight and started struggling harder to get out of her chair.

"If I'm going to tell you a story, you have to sit quietly in your seat," Ducky instructed. "Can you do that for me?"

"Ok!" Gipsy agreed, suddenly sitting very still.

"All right then," Ducky started. "Once upon a time..."

* * *

**Author's Notes: ** This chapter is one long movie reference. Cyber brownies to anyone who can name the movie.


	7. Once Upon a Time

"Once upon a time, not so long ago, on a world far, far away, there lived a girl duck. She lived with her mommy and her daddy and her little sister. They were a very happy family and they loved each other very much."

"Mommy's having a baby brother for me!"

"Is she now? Congratulations!"

"His name's Yancy just like Daddy's brother."

"Your uncle must be very happy about that."

"No, he went away a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Can we get back to the story now?"

"Ok."

"Then one day, big, evil, nasty lizards came to their world and started causing a lot of trouble. They took away the girl's mommy and daddy and knocked down their house. She was very frightened and her sister was hurt.

"Suddenly, the magic came to her and she had the power to keep her sister safe. A strange duck came and got her sister to safety, but the house collapsed and she was trapped.

"But the magic kept her safe until another duck like her could rescue her. He took her to a special place filled with magical and wonderful things. There were underground gardens filled with all sorts of strange and beautiful plants and animals. Only magic ducks lived there and they taught her how to control the magic. There she was safe from the mean lizards, but she couldn't forget what they had done.

"It was a wonderful place were magical objects made the walls glow and kept the place warm and even helped keep the place clean. There was one very special object there that they kept hidden away. When she saw it, she knew what it was.

"It was a special mask that would help chase those nasty lizards away. The magic ducks couldn't use it and they didn't want to let anyone else use it either. They were safe in their hidden home, so they didn't care what the lizards did."

"That's not right."

"No it wasn't. May I finish, please?"

"Ok."

"Now she did care and so, when no one was looking, she cast a magic spell. This spell went all around the world until it found the one duck who could use The Mask to make those mean lizards go away. He came to that secret, hidden place.

"In order to get to wear that special Mask, he had to take several tests to prove he was the one meant to wear it. And while it was hard and he almost gave up, he kept going until he made it to the end. When he finally finished, he found her there."

"Did they fall in love and have a baby?"

"No, sweetie. Let me finish please."

"Sorry."

"He had passed all of the tests, but there was one more thing he needed to do. He had to promise the girl that he would only use The Mask for good, that he would give it to no one else, and that when the lizards were gone, he would return it.

"Did he make the mean lizards go away?"

"He did."

"GOODIE! And when he returned the mask, then did they get married and have babies?"

"No, because he never returned The Mask."

"What!? But he promised! You should always keep your promises!"

"Yes, you should. Do want to know why he didn't return The Mask?"

"Why?"

"Because he had disappeared."

"What happened next!? Want more!"

"Sorry, that's another story for another day," Ducky said with a smile on her beak. "Lunch is here."

Sure enough, their server arrived with their food. Wildwing noticed the people at the surrounding tables suddenly going back to what they were doing before she had started telling the story. He had to admit, that he had been completely captivated by her tale too.

He wanted to ask her questions about it, but not in front of the humans. As his food was placed in front of him, he caught her eye and she slightly raised an eyebrow at him. He gave a slight shake of his head and turned his attention to his food.

"That was a wonderful story," Mako said while she picked up her fork and knife and cut up Gipsy's food.

"Are you sure we can't adopt you?" Raleigh added with a grin and Ducky lightly laughed. "I've never seen her so captivated by a story unless it was something on TV."

"I'm sure that would go over well with the adoption agencies," Ducky chuckled as she started in on her salad.

At that moment, Raleigh's hip made an electronic chirp. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen.

"Ok, my friend texted me the information," Raleigh told them as he put the small device away. "I'll get it to you after lunch."

"That would be great, thank you," Ducky replied as she hungrily ate her food.

"Not a problem," Raleigh responded as he started to eat his own food.

Wildwing wondered what that information could be, but wasn't sure how to ask. Before he could figure out a way, Ducky started to ask questions about Earth. It finally hit him that she wasn't planning on leaving and even when he got the mask back, she would still be around.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Mallory asked as they exited Cholesterol on a Stick. "FashionPalooza or Shoes B Us?"

"I don't know," Duke replied, wondering if that last cheese stick on a stick was such a good idea. "I was thinking more along the lines of The Book Depot."

"You want to go to a book store?" she demanded.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with a good book," he retorted as they turned a corner.

"Hold on," she said as she grabbed Duke and pulled him into the shadows. "Do you see what I see?"

He looked to see where she was pointing. That extra cheese stick suddenly felt like a lead brick. Yup. It was a bad idea.

"What is he doing?" she hissed in justified aggravation.

"Looks like our illustrious leader is having lunch with the blue beak," he quietly growled.

"Who are those humans that are with him?" she questioned.

"Not a clue," he answered.

"I wish I brought my blaster with me," she softly stated.

"So you can shoot into a crowded diner during the lunch rush?" he asked in near horror. "Oh yeah, that'd look good on the evening news."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" she demanded heatedly.

"We wait and watch," he said, doing his best not to give into his growing dread. "I'm sure Wildwing has his reasons for going out to lunch with her and the humans."

"Looks like they're leaving," she whispered several seconds later as she pulled him further into the shadows.

It took the humans, the blue beak, and Wildwing a couple minutes to come out of the restaurant. There didn't seem to be anything amazing about the humans and the two ducks couldn't figure out what their part in all this was. The blue beak wasn't carrying the mask making Duke wonder if the tree's strange energy reading had been more than a weird coincidence.

The woman said her goodbyes to the ducks and then turned to the man and child. From the affection she was showing them, it was obvious they were a family. The woman stood hugging her husband for several seconds and they could see she was saying something to him. Though from the distance they were standing, they couldn't tell what she was saying.

Whatever it was didn't take long and the woman left with one last wave goodbye. Duke and Mallory pulled further back into the shadows when she passed not too far from them. They never realized that they had been spotted.

* * *

"I need to get back to work," Mako announced as soon as they stepped outside.

"Ok, let me get Ducky the info Stacker sent me," Raleigh started.

"Don't worry about it," she assured her husband. "I can walk from here. It'll be good for me and Yancy."

She said her goodbyes to the ducks and then to Gipsy. A big hug and kiss were given to the little girl before she stepped into her husband's arms. He knew something was up by the fact that she cuddled up to him instead of just kissing him and stepping away.

_"Please watch out for her,"_ she said softly in Japanese._ "Something is not right between them."_

_"I will,"_ he assured her.

They exchanged a quick kiss and then she was on her way. She betrayed nothing when she spotted the other ducks. She just kept walking as she pulled out her cell phone.

* * *

He realized that Mako was right. Wildwing wasn't acting the least bit happy about a new duck being in town. In fact, he was borderline hostile towards her.

"Come on," Raleigh said as they headed through the mall. "I've heard of the guy Stacker suggested. He makes greased eels look easy to catch."

"How did you and Mako meet?" Ducky asked while they made their way through the crowd. "No offense, but a neurosurgeon and a construction worker seem like an odd combination."

"Mommy beat Daddy up," Gipsy told her as she gleefully held one of Ducky's hands.

"We were both in the military," Raleigh quickly clarified. "Some friends and I were having a friendly sparring match with staffs in the gym one day. A point for every hit and four points won the match. I was doing pretty well against the guys and then this little slip of a thing walked in asking if she could join us."

"And then Mommy kicked his butt," Gipsy happily announced.

"She did not," he objected with a laugh. "She did win 4-3."

"That must have been quite the surprise," Ducky chuckled.

"She had me pinned to the mat and I fell for her right then and there," he admitted with a lopsided grin as his phone beeped.

He did a quick check and then put it away.

"If you need to get back to your company, we'll manage," Wildwing stated, not sure why the human was still hanging around or where they were going.

"I've got my top guys running things for today," Raleigh explained as he started checking out store windows. "Our baby sitter canceled at the last minute this morning and my mom had plans for today, so I took the day off. It's good to be the boss."

"What are you looking for?" Wildwing asked.

"I'm checking the store numbers," Raleigh replied just as he spotted the ducks following them. "Here we are."

He lead them into an Asian herbal apothecary shop. The smells of all of the different herbs made it pleasant and headache inducing at the same time. Raleigh headed straight toward the counter, leaving the ducks and his daughter by the door.

"Why are we here?" Wildwing softly asked her.

"Just making sure I'm not a burden to you," she replied with a smile.

He frowned at her, but before he could ask for clarification, Raleigh returned.

"Ok, I've talked to the guy behind the counter," Raleigh told them as he picked Gipsy up. "He said he'll see if Chau is busy. If he is, we're out of luck. But if he's not, then only one of us can go in."

"That's fine," Ducky assured him.

"Are you sure?" Raleigh questioned worried.

"I'm a big duck, Raleigh," she replied before throwing a sly look over her shoulder at Wildwing who frowned at her before looking back at the human. "I think I can handle whatever he throws at me. Besides, how often has this guy had to deal with a girl duck? I might throw him a bit off of his game."

Wildwing narrowed his eyes at her, but she said nothing else. Raleigh witnessed the exchange and started to wonder what more he could do. Before he could think of anything, the man he had spoken to came out from the back room and walked up to them.

"Mr. Chau will see you now," the man said to Raleigh.

"Actually, I'm the one who wants to see him," Ducky stated.

"You?" the man asked in disbelief.

He looked between Raleigh and Ducky a few times before settling on Raleigh.

"Are you sure you want to send this tender little morsel in there?" he inquired.

"Don't let the soft feathers fool you," she told the man. "I'm a lot tougher than I look."

"Very well," the man sighed as he lead her to the back of the store. "Good luck."

She gave him a smile and disappeared through the door. Wildwing didn't like it, but there was no way to stop her. He had the feeling that Raleigh wasn't believing that he was hanging around because he was worried about a fellow duck.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air," Wildwing stated as he headed for the exit.

"I'll hang out here for her," Raleigh replied as he shifted his now sleeping daughter in his arms.

Wildwing stepped outside and took in a lung full of clean city air. He tried not to sneeze as he headed toward a nearby bench to sit and wait. Just before he could sit down, he saw them.

He headed over to where they were standing, knowing that they were going to want some answers. Duke and Mallory were doing their best to blend in and failing spectacularly. After all, two ducks in a world of humans just weren't going to cut it in being sneaky.

"What are you two doing?" Wildwing asked.

"I think that's something we should be asking you," Duke shot back.

"I'm trying to get the mask back from the only person who knows where it is," Wildwing stated.

"Care to tell us how you found her?" Mallory questioned.

Wildwing spent the next several minutes explaining what he had been doing since he got Klegghorn's call and his hope to get the mage back to The Pond.

"We should call in the rest of the team," Mallory said forcefully.

"Oh yeah, that's real subtle," Duke replied sarcastically. "Why don't you bring in a marching band while you're at it?"

"Duke is right," Wildwing quickly responded. "Ducky isn't going to be easy to catch."

"So, why did you come to this shop?" Duke asked.

"I'm not sure," Wildwing admitted. "She said she's making sure she's not a burden. I don't know what she has planned, but it's probably not good. I can't do anything with the human hanging around. We're just going to have to wait her out."

"We'll just ambush her and take her back to The Pond," Mallory insisted. "Once she gives back the mask, we'll let her go."

"And how do we explain why we're attacking someone from our own planet?" Wildwing questioned. "She's been surrounded by humans ever since she was found. We're going to have to go slowly on this one. Have the team on alert, but I don't want them moving in until they're called. Duke, cover the back of the shop to make sure she doesn't try to slip out the back. If we're lucky, we'll have the mask back soon."

"I don't like it, but you're team captain," Mallory grumbled as Duke quickly moved off.

"Just let the others know what's going on," he instructed. "I need to get back."

"Will do," Mallory replied while Wildwing turned and walked away.

* * *

He watched the duck through the plate glass window of the shop and saw Wildwing go talk to a couple of his team mates. When he had gotten the text from Mako he had hoped she was just being paranoid. Sometimes he hated it when his wife was right.

He wondered what he could do to help Ducky. At some point, he was going to have to find out what her real name was. There was a tension between her and Wildwing that couldn't be explained by them being strangers. Something else was going on and he wanted to know what it was.

At that moment, his phone rang and once he answered it, the problems of a couple alien ducks was put on the back burner.


	8. Promise?

She stepped into a rather opulent office that didn't match the slightly shabby store front that she had just come from. There weren't any humans in the room at the moment, though she could see a door off to the left that had a light shining under it. She decided to examine the room a bit to try and figure out what type of person this Mr. Chau was.

There was a large tapestry behind the desk that looked to be very old while the wall behind her was a painted mural of a mountain landscape. The wall to the left was home to a large painting of a nearly naked woman in what appeared to be in the middle of a dance and it left very little room for the door. However, these signs of a man with a lot of wealth and very little taste only slightly registered in her mind.

The entire wall to the right was what got her attention. It was painted a deep crimson red. A stylized relief painted in gold was a scene of a dragon fighting a giant bird engulfed in flames.

"Phoenix," she whispered as she gently traced the image.

She felt a stirring heat within her chest, but she ignored it like she always did when the living flame got a bit restless.

"The eternal struggle," a deep man's voice said from across the room. "Good versus evil."

"But which one is the good and which one is the evil?" she softly questioned.

"Guess it depends on what side of the line you're standing on," he replied. "You aren't what I was expecting."

"And what were you expecting?" she asked, keeping her back to him.

"A guy, mostly," he answer then she turned to face him. "And a lot fewer feathers."

She smiled at his honesty.

"I assume that you're Mr. Chau," she said as she crossed the office.

He was a tall man with short white hair and he wore a very expensive red suit. He had on dark glasses so she couldn't tell what his eye color was. From the looks of the scaring on his face, chances were, he was hiding a damaged eye.

"You can assume that," he replied as he held out his hand to her. "And you would be?"

"You can call me Princess Ducky for now," she responded as she delicately put her hand in his.

"Well, your highness, what can I do for you?" he questioned as he indicated that she should take the seat in front of his desk.

"I've just come to your planet and find myself in need of money and quickly," she told him while he took his own seat.

"Why not ask the Mighty Ducks for help?" he inquired as he leaned back in his chair. "They're obviously from the same planet as you. I can tell you how to find them."

"The Mighty Ducks and I have already, shall we say, met," she explained. "To say that we don't exactly get along is like saying ice is a little chilly."

"So what do you want from me?" he inquired.

"I have these," she replied as she removed a pair links from the end of her belt. "I have been told that gold and gems have a value on this planet. The links are solid gold, not a mixture of metals."

She reached across the desk and laid the links in his open palm. He pulled a jewelers loop and a small scale from a desk drawer and examined first the ruby and then the emerald nestled in the gold carefully. She had forgotten that one of the links had an emerald in it. He then weighed them before typing something into the computer on the side of his desk. She waited patiently, her eyes never leaving him.

"Very nice," he finally admitted as he put the loop and scale away. "I can give you a couple hundred for them."

"Is that what they're worth?" she asked, detecting his deceit a mile away.

"You can't expect to get full value for this," he tried to explain. "I'm a business man, not a charity."

"I wasn't expecting to get their full worth," she responded. "I am expecting to get a fair price though. So, I ask again, what are they worth?"

"I'll give you $500 for 'em," he offered again.

"I'm sorry, do I look like I fell off of the gullible truck and landed in a vat of stupid?" she demanded, her patience thinning. "Please tell me what they're worth."

"Ok, a $1,000, but that's my final offer," he stated.

She looked down into her lap so he couldn't see her eyes.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time," she said as calmly she could as she stood up and held out her hand for the links.

He leaned forward and he reluctantly handed them over. Their fingers touched briefly, but it was enough. The spell she hit him with slammed him back into his seat.

"They're worth around $5,000 each," he gasped.

"There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" she asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Now, I do understand that giving me full value isn't possible. I'd like $9,000. That would leave you with a $1,000 profit margin."

"Now you're thinking I'm the stupid one," he countered, not knowing what had come over him, but he was quick to recover. "I'll give you $5,000."

They spent the next several minutes haggling. In the end, she got nearly $8,000 for the links in cash. He wasn't happy about it and reluctantly gave her a large envelope to carry the money in.

He saw her to the door and then returned to his desk. As soon as he sat down, he tried to figure out how he had been bettered by not only a girl, but a _duck_ no less.

* * *

He was finally getting off of the phone when she came out of the back office. If she hadn't been carrying the sizable envelope that was filled with what he assumed was money, he wouldn't have been able to tell that she had made a deal. Her belt didn't look any smaller, but what did he know? He worked in construction, not jewelry or fashion.

"Everything go ok?" he asked.

"Oh yes," she replied happily. "Where's Wildwing?"

"He went outside and was talking to a couple of his team mates," he answered. "Ducky, what's going on? Those team mates have been following us since we left the restaurant and Wildwing hasn't exactly been jumping for joy that you're here."

"On my world, ducks with blue beaks aren't exactly welcomed in polite society," she tried to explain.

"Why not?" he questioned. "You're a nice person. Heck, Gipsy loves you and she's very picky about who she likes."

"It's a very long and complicated reason," she stated. "It would take more time and a deeper understanding of Puckworld society than you probably ever wanted to know."

"So, he's just prejudice?" he inquired.

"Yes, but it's not really his fault," she replied as she headed towards the door. "He is what society has made him to be. He's actually handling this whole thing rather well, all things considered."

"So, what now?" he asked while he held the door for her even with Gipsy sleeping in his arms.

"I need to go shopping," she told him, holding up the envelope. "The slippers I'm wearing are about to fall off of my feet. And as nice as this dress is, it's just not practical."

"I can see that," he replied as they stepped outside. "I can take you to the store Mako likes to shop at."

"That sounds like a good start," she agreed.

"What sounds like a good start?" Wildwing asked as he stepped up to them.

"Shopping," she replied with a smile.

"Do you really need to do that now?" Wildwing questioned.

"Yes," she responded. "These slippers aren't going to last much longer. Raleigh, would you please lead the way?"

Wildwing could only grind his beak as the human led them to the other end of the mall. He had never had a serious relationship on Puckworld, but he had heard from enough older male relatives to know that he wasn't going to like this. If being dragged from store to store, or even department to department, didn't drive him crazy, the mind numbing boredom would.

By the time they entered the large department store, he was silently hoping Lord Dragaunus would attack the mall. Unfortunately for him, no attack was forthcoming. After finding an employee to help her, he and Raleigh tagged along behind the females.

He glanced at the human man and was at least thankful that he didn't have a sleeping child to lug around. If the occasional shifting of Gipsy was any indication, it wasn't a comfortable experience. He remembered his mom once describing carrying a sleeping duckling was akin to carrying a bag of hot, wet concrete that drooled. Not that he was going to be having that experience in his foreseeable future, but he kind of felt for the guy.

He tried to think of ways to get the human to go away, but he wasn't having any luck with ideas. Even when he was free of the man, there was still the problem of getting her back to The Pond. How was he going to convince her that she wanted to stay with him and his team? How would the team take it? Would they even be able to hold her if she didn't want to be there?

He was so lost in thought as he followed her through the store that he wasn't really paying attention where he was going. Raleigh suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt and brought him to a stop. He frowned at the man and only got a crooked smile in response.

"I don't know about where you're from, but on this planet, following a woman that you've only just met in there will likely result in a slap across the face," Raleigh stated.

Wildwing looked at where the man was pointing and cringed. He had almost followed her into the changing rooms. Yes, that would have resulted in a slap, if he was lucky.

"Thanks," Wildwing mumbled.

He looked around for someplace to sit down, but there was nothing. He tried to find something to lean against, but the walls were covered with shelves of clothes and mirrors. He guessed it could be worse. He could be stuck holding her purse.

"Daddy?" a sleepy little voice said. "Gotta go potty."

"Ok, sweetheart," Raleigh said as he started to look around.

"Sir, the bathrooms are that way," a nearby employee told him, pointing towards a door not too far away.

"Thanks," Raleigh replied before he made a beeline for the bathrooms.

Wildwing wondered why he nearly took off like a Saurian hunter drone was after him. He didn't think about it for long because she came out of the changing area at that moment.

She was wearing a mini dress that revealed her legs. It showed a lot of leg. His breath hitched in his throat as he couldn't tear his gaze away from those shapely appendages.

She managed not to laugh at the look on his face as she checked her reflection in the mirror. It made her feel good to know that she could get that type of reaction out of him. The looks of anger and disgust that she'd been getting since she had woken up had been getting to her. Though she did her best to hide it, it wasn't easy.

She had been given those looks before from non-mages. The first had been from the stranger that saved her sister and then tried to kill her. The second was from Canard when he finally realized what she was. The last time had been Canard's team and that had been one big hate fest when she had first appeared.

She had seen those looks, accepted them and moved on. But when she got them from Wildwing, it was different. The question was why.

She was on the verge of asking his opinion on the dress, but kept her beak shut. From the expression on his face, she doubted he could string two words together right at that moment. With a little twirl to see how the skirt flowed, she turned to see how it looked in the mirror before heading back into the dressing room.

He stood there completely thunderstruck. His brain was misfiring so badly that it was a wonder he was managing to stay upright. A sharp smack between his shoulder blades reminded him to breathe.

"Snap out of it,Wildwing," Mallory growled from behind him.

He turned and saw his team mate stalking away. She practically had steam coming off of her. He gave himself a good mental shake.

He couldn't blame her for being upset. He was gawking at the enemy's legs, her really, _really_ shapely legs.

"Snap out of it, Wildwing," he repeated to himself with a sharp head shake.

By the time she came out again with another outfit on, he had taken on an air of boredom. He wasn't looking directly at her any more, but she knew that didn't mean he wasn't watching her. She caught him staring in the mirror as she checked the fit of the jeans she was wearing. Oh yeah, he was watching.

She came out several more times, each time with a different outfit. By the time Raleigh returned holding Gipsy's hand, he wasn't sure if she tried on two outfits or twenty. He was more tired now than after playing a game of hockey without any breaks and all he had done was stand there.

"Has she come out yet?" Raleigh asked.

"Several times," Wildwing grumbled and Raleigh laughed.

"I guess women's shopping genes are universal," Raleigh chuckled. "I think women put us through clothes shopping torture just to see how tough we are."

"Want to go, Daddy," Gipsy demanded.

"In a minute, honey," Raleigh told his daughter. "Don't you want to say goodbye to Princess Ducky?"

"Princess Ducky come with us?" she asked hopefully.

"No sweetie," he answered.

"You're leaving?" Wildwing inquired, hoping against hope that he would finally be rid of the man.

"There's a problem at one of the work sites," Raleigh explained as Ducky appeared back in her dress and holding a small pile of clothes. "I just got off the phone with my project manager and I need to go straighten things out before everything blows up."

"Thank you so much for everything you've done," Ducky said while Gipsy latched onto her legs.

"You're very welcome," Raleigh replied as he handed her a small rectangle of card stock. "Here's my business card. Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you," she repeated while she stuck the card in the envelope with the money.

She handed the clothes and envelope in her hands to Wildwing and then peeled Gipsy off of her legs. She knelt down to the child's level and hugged her.

"Goodbye, Gipsy," Ducky whispered. "I'm so glad I met you."

"Say goodbye to Ducky, Gipsy," Raleigh instructed when it appeared the child wasn't letting go.

"Don't wanna go!" Gipsy pouted.

"Gipsy, you have to go with your daddy now," Ducky told her, loosening her hold on the child. "I have to stay here.

"No!" Gipsy whined louder.

"Gipsy, be good for your daddy and let go of my neck please," Ducky instructed. "It's time for you to go. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon."

"No we won't," Gipsy cried.

"I live here now, so I'm sure we will," Ducky replied.

"Promise?" Gipsy sniffed and Ducky paused.

"I promise," Ducky whispered as she held the child tight.

If he hadn't been watching for it, Wildwing would have missed seeing her eyes glow for a moment. Before he could move, Gipsy gave Ducky a kiss on the cheek and then skipped over to her father.

"It was nice meeting you, Wildwing," Raleigh said as he took his daughter's hand.

"Likewise," Wildwing returned with a nod.

With a final wave to the ducks, the humans turned and headed for the exit. She got to her feet and he shoved the clothes and envelope back into her wings.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded, getting into her face.

"I gave her a hug," she responded, a bit confused by the sudden hostility.

"Your eyes glowed," he growled. "What did you do?"

"I made her a promise," she replied as she turned towards the registers.

"Which means what?" he nearly snarled as he walked with her.

"It means that bad things will happen to _me_ if I don't fulfill it," she answered while she handed the employee standing there the clothes.

He stood staring at her as she completed her transaction. As soon as they were out of the human's earshot, he picked up the conversation.

"What do you mean 'bad things' will happen to you?" he asked.

"If I let the promise drag on too long, it will start pulling at me to complete it," she explained as she studied one of the store's signs. "If I don't fulfill it, the magic backlash will drive me insane. Fortunately, the only time frame on it was 'soon' which can be fairly flexible. I have a little while yet. Now I have a question for you."

"What?" he nearly snapped.

"When Raleigh and Mako said goodbye earlier, they pushed their faces together and Gipsy just pushed her face into my cheek," she started while she walked towards the escalators. "Why did they do that?"

"It's called kissing and they do it to show affection," he answered and she gave him a confused look. "It's like a beak rub."

"Oh, ok," she responded, happy to know that the child was just being affectionate.

"You've got your change of clothes, let's go," he grumbled as he took a step towards one of the exits.

"Sorry, I still need shoes," she told him rather cheerfully.

He could feel his stomach drop as she stepped onto the escalator. He was starting to lose hope that he would ever get out of there.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Ducks have beaks, not lips. You need lips to kiss. So, in my universe, ducks don't kiss, they do beak rubs.


	9. Shopping!

"Why didn't you get shoes first?" he asked heatedly as he followed her onto the escalator.

"Because it's easier to buy shoes for an outfit than the other way around," she replied with a smile over her shoulder.

He scowled at her, but she just kicked the smile up a notch. She stepped off of the escalator a moment later, releasing the skirt she was holding up when it was safe to do so. After a quick look around, she found the shoe department and was off like a shot.

He tagged along with all the enthusiasm of someone headed toward the gallows. Once he reached the department, he was relieved to find that they at least had chairs. He plopped down into a seat and saw Mallory step off of the escalator.

She headed over to the handbags and started browsing. He would have wondered how bored she was if he hadn't seen the shopping bag she was carrying. With a sigh of defeat, he slouched down and tried to stay awake.

"How many shoes do you need?" he grumbled after an employee brought yet another pair of shoes for her to try on.

"I bought three outfits, so three pairs of shoes," she answered happily and he dropped his head back with a thunk.

"How much longer?" he growled some time later as he stared at the ceiling.

He never saw her and the sales girl exchange grins. The employee wisely made a break for it.

"I'm not sure," she replied as she picked up the mini dress and held them over a couple pairs of dress shoes. "Which shoes do you think look better with this dress?"

"Why are you asking me?" he groaned.

"Oh, should I ask her instead?" she inquired.

The tone of her voice immediately brought his head up. She wasn't happy. He looked in the direction she was pointing and cringed.

"Is that Mallory or Tanya?" she questioned.

"Mallory," he answered in defeat just before he frowned. "Wait, how did you know their names?"

"Canard told me," she replied while she put on one shoe of each of the pairs of shoes and then held the dress up to herself as she looked in the mirror.

"Canard!?" he exclaimed, shooting straight to his feet and not caring that several shoppers were now staring at him. "He's all right!?"

"He was when I left Puckworld," she responded. "At least he was before you blew up the portal."

"What?" he asked in a hushed voice. "How..."

"He was standing outside the circle of mages when we opened the portal," she stated softly. "If the explosion was as intense there as it was here, he could have been hurt."

He was horrified. His best friend may have been hurt, or worse, killed, because of his actions? He slowly sank back down into the chair. Numb with the thought that he may have killed his best friend.

"Wildwing, the mages would have helped him," she told him as she took the shoes off and put the dress away. "As upset as they were with him, they would not have left him if he was hurt."

"What if they were hurt from the explosion?" he quietly demanded.

"The most that would have happened to them is they would have been knocked on their tail feathers from the shock wave," she replied as she took a seat near him. "The magic protects us, no matter what gets thrown at us. That's why nothing you shot at me yesterday did any damage. If he was hurt, they would have helped."

"When will the other mages open another portal?" he questioned, not knowing if he really wanted the answer.

"They won't," she sighed as she sorted through the shoe boxes. "It takes at least forty-nine mages to open a portal like that."

"So?"

"In Drake DuCaine's time, mages numbered in the thousands," she quietly admitted. "Today, there are less than fifty."

"So, they're not going to come for you?" he asked, not sure if he was relieved or not.

She let out a snort.

"For The Mask, they would if they could," she stated bitterly. "They blame me for Canard getting it and they're still angry about it. They're really steamed since Canard broke his promise and we had to hunt him down. Getting him out of dimensional limbo was _not_ my idea of fun. It was like trying to find a particular snowflake during a blizzard."

"But you did find him," he pressed.

"Took us over a year to do it," she grumbled.

"Are you sure he would have survived the blast?" he asked, needing confirmation.

"The chances are very good that he survived the blast," she replied as she got to her feet. "He wasn't in the circle of power. However, I can't be sure that something else didn't get him. The circle was created right under the Twin Beaks rock formations. If the explosion was strong enough, it might have caused an avalanche."

"You're not helping," he grumbled.

"Sorry, but you wanted to know," she responded with a shrug.

"You could have lied," he growled.

"No, I couldn't," she shot back. "Words have power. To lie is to give that lie power."

"So?"

"So there are some things that are worse than death," she snapped.

Before he could ask, she picked up the boxes with the shoes she had chosen. He watched in stunned silence as she marched over to the register to make her purchases. He wondered what could have triggered that reaction.

She returned a short time later and started to get her things together. Once her purchases were put away, she begun to clean up the mess she had made with trying on so many shoes. An employee came over and shooed them away. He actually sighed with relief when she picked up her bags. The nightmare was over!

"Oooh, purses," she cooed excitedly and headed towards the handbags.

"No!" he nearly shouted and jumped in front of her. "Absolutely not!"

The glowing eyed glare he was awarded made him take a step back.

"You are free to leave at any time," she snarled.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight until I have the mask back" he snapped back.

"Like that's going to happen," she snorted before brushing past him and heading toward her new target. "In case you missed this not so fine point, it was never yours to begin with."

Discontentedly, he followed her and saw Mallory quickly make herself scarce out of the corner of his eye.

"You might as well have her keep you company," she stated as she made her way through the racks. "It's not like she's fooling anyone."

He hated that she was right. Feeling a bit peeved, he headed off in the direction Mallory had taken and found her hiding in the linens. He stayed where he could keep an eye on Ducky and waved Mallory over. She was hesitant at first, but he was insistent.

"You're going to blow my cover," she hissed from behind a wall of shelves.

"She's already spotted you," he grumbled.

"How?" she demanded.

"Mallory, we're alien ducks," he reminded her. "We don't exactly blend in."

"What's the plan now?" she inquired, a bit put out that she was spotted by the blue beak.

"We wait for her to finish shopping and then get her back to The Pond," he answered.

"Are you nuts?" she questioned heatedly. "Do you have any idea of the damage she could do?"

"Do you?" he asked.

"What!?"

"What do we know she is capable of?" he asked quietly. "She was able to disarm us and fling Grin around like a sack of feathers. She made me answer her question whether I wanted to or not. She can dry herself in a matter of seconds. She's pretty much indestructible. She can't tell lies, but she can detect them."

"So she says," she scoffed.

"She got pretty upset when I suggested that it was ok to lie," he replied and then sighed. "I don't know. Do we take her to The Pond where she could possibly damage our base of operations? Or do we let her wander free doing who knows what?"

"Darned if we do and darned if we don't," she grumbled.

He nodded and sighed again. This wasn't going to be an easy decision one way or another. Once more, he was feeling his inadequacy as team captain.

"She's so caught up with her shopping we could leave and she wouldn't even notice," he muttered.

"Don't be so sure of that," she replied. "She keeps checking the mirrors to see if we're still here."

"Where's Duke?" he asked finally.

"Outside, watching the doors from the rooftop," she answered.

"Good, we'll keep him in reserve," he replied.

It took what felt like forever for Ducky to finally make her selections and buy the handbags. They followed her out of the department and down the escalator. He was heading towards the exit when he realized she was heading elsewhere.

"Where are you going now?" he demanded when he caught up with her.

"Someplace even Drake DuCaine would hesitate going," she replied cheerfully.

"Where's tha-What!? NO! No way!"

"Oh, for Pete's sake, go get a cup of coffee or something," Mallory told him. "I'll keep an eye on her."

He didn't argue with her, but beat a very hasty retreat out of there.

"If he left any faster, he would have left skid marks on the floor," Ducky chuckled.

"Just hurry up and get what you need so we can go," Mallory demanded and suddenly found herself beak to beak with a less than pleased blue beak.

"I will take as long as I like," Ducky nearly snarled. "I might be done in ten minutes or I might be here until they close tonight. Either way, I will leave when I am good and ready. And not you nor Wildwing nor any of your merry band of misfits will change that."

With that, Ducky turned on her heel and marched into the lingerie department. Mallory glared after her. She wasn't sure if she was more upset by her inability to get the blue beak to do what she wanted or the fact that she just realized the other duck was taller than her.

* * *

With a sigh, she took another bite of her frozen yogurt. They had both been hanging back ever since the lingerie department incident. She wouldn't mind them hanging around too much if they'd actually talk to her like a normal person. She thought she had been making headway with Wildwing, but that all changed when Mallory joined the party. So much for _that_ bright idea.

It would almost be comical if it wasn't so frustrating. Her first trip to a mall in over a year and she had her own personal black clouds following her around. Most of the bad vibes were coming from Mallory but Wildwing seemed to be feeding off of them. It had gotten to the point where humans were giving them a wide berth.

After the department store, she had stopped at a shop that sold maps and gotten several of the area. She needed them so she could navigate this strange new world. Boy, did that ruffle their feathers. Did they really expect her to be dependent on them in learning this new place?

There was the stop at a beauty supply store for basic toiletries. At least they hadn't followed her in there, but she couldn't hide in there forever. She had been tempted to ask to use the back door. However it was obvious that the employees were Mighty Duck fans and there was no point in trying to disillusion their hero worship.

She took another bite and enjoyed the frozen treat. They refused to sit with her, but instead were seated at the table behind her. She could practically feel their glares burning holes in the back of her new shirt. Maybe she shouldn't have changed out of her dress since spider silk was fire proof. However, the jeans, t-shirt and running shoes were so much more comfortable and easier to move around in that it was worth taking the chance.

She still had a few things to do, but the snack stop had been to fortify her. She had seen a store on the mall map that she was nearly desperate to get to. She had every intention of spending as much time as possible in there. If that didn't get rid of her gloomy shadows, she would have to get drastic.

* * *

They sat in silence, watching her eat. They hadn't said anything to each other in a while. There was no need to.

They could wait. Sooner or later she would realize she had nowhere to go but with them. So they just followed along.

Patience wasn't Mallory's strong suit, but she hadn't shot the mage yet. That was good, right? Though he was beginning to wonder if it might speed things up a bit.

He was starting to feel the effect of not enough sleep. The large coffee he had instead of the frozen yogurt was helping a little bit. He was glad he wasn't dealing with the mage alone anymore.

Fortunately, Duke was still undiscovered. He had the good sense to stay up on the rooftops as much as possible. He was Wildwing's ace in the hole should things go south. Hopefully, it wouldn't be necessary. Hopefully.

Finally, the mage got up and threw her garbage away. She picked up her things and headed out. They followed her, not two steps behind and he refused to acknowledge the way her jeans hugged her legs and-other places.

She casually strolled through the mall, looking at the display windows. She would occasionally stop and take a longer look if something interesting caught her attention. However, a minute later she would start walking again and they would follow.

With no warning or any indication she was the least bit interested in the store, she headed into a shop.

"A music store?" Mallory asked in surprise. "What does she need in there?"

"I don't know and I don't care," he growled as he marched in after her.

He found her looking at a rack of CDs. He grabbed her arm and started to drag her toward the exit. He managed to get three steps to the door before a shock strong enough to make his entire wing go numb caused him to let her go. He spun around and came face to face with an angry mage. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the caffeine overload or maybe he had just taken leave of his senses, but he didn't back down.

"Why are you in here?" he demanded.

"I like music," she snapped.

"This can wait," he started.

"Then leave if you don't want to be here," she retorted. "I'm not stopping you."

"Give me the mask and I'll gladly leave you alone," he softly snarled.

"Are you deaf or were you dropped on your head as a duckling?" she questioned angrily. "You are _not_ getting The Mask. You can follow me around, threaten me, shoot me or beg me until your feathers turn gray and all fall out, but it won't change one thing. You. Are. Not. Getting. The. Mask. Back."

He reached for her again and her eyes started to glow blue.

"Leave," she quietly ordered.

As if his feet had a mind of their own, he found himself walking outside. It wasn't until he was a good ten feet out the door before he could stop. Belatedly, he realized that maybe trying to force her to go where she didn't want to wasn't going to work. He had to remember that the glowing eyes were a dead giveaway that she was about to do something with her powers.

"What happened?" Mallory asked.

"She made me leave," he growled as he stomped over to a nearby bench under a nice shade tree.

"How'd she do that?" she questioned while she followed him.

"She did that glowing eye thing and now I'm out here," he grumbled as he sat down.

"So now what?" she inquired.

"Now we wait her out," he said as he activated his communicator. "Duke, what have you got?"

"There are only two doors, front and back," Duke answered.

"Good," Wildwing stated with satisfaction. "I want you to watch the back door. Mallory and I will stand guard on the front."

"Will do," Duke replied before disconnecting.

"So now we wait?" she asked.

"Now we wait," he confirmed. "She can't stay in there forever."


	10. Who is she?

"What happened when you went to the meadow?" he questioned a few minutes later.

"We found out that Siege and Wraith were there sometime after we left," she answered as she finally sat down. "Tanya was able to single out the different energy readings and found that one of the trees was giving off the same energy as the blue beak."

"Mage," he corrected.

"What?"

"She's a mage," he told her.

"She's a blue beak," she retorted.

"I called her that and I'm lucky to still have all my feathers," he replied. "If the nurse hadn't walked in when she did...Let's just say I'm _really_ glad she walked in when she did."

"Fine," she grumbled. "Nosedive and Grin found the_, mage's_, shoes and cloak."

"What about the tree?" he inquired.

"Duke climbed up it, but wasn't able to find anything," she answered.

"Is that why you came back?" he questioned.

"No, a park ranger caught us and kicked us out of there," she told him.

She got up and started pacing. He could see her get more and more agitated.

"Something bothering you?" he inquired.

"Tanya said something and the more I think about it, the more it bugs me," she admitted.

"What did she say?" he questioned.

"She mentioned that the_ mage_ looks a lot like Amber Rotente," she stated.

"I never met Amber, though I had heard of her," he replied.

"I know," she said. "She's a nice girl and Canard had a thing for her, but she didn't feel the same way. That's part of the reason she wasn't around when we were about to go after Dragaunus's Master Tower."

"I had wondered about that," he mused. "Where did she come from?"

"Duke rescued her after the first wave of attacks," she answered. "He pulled her from the wreckage of her family home. Her sister was alive when he pulled Amber out. But when he went back to get the sister, the house collapsed."

"I can't imagine what that must have been like for Amber," he softly stated, very thankful that he still had his baby brother.

"The thing is, when we went through the rubble so we could bury her family, we only found her parents," she told him. "The spot where her sister should have been, someone else had already dug up and her sister was gone."

"You think Ducky is Amber's missing sister?" he asked.

"NO!" she yelled, drawing the attention of a few afternoon shoppers and she immediately toned it down. "There's no way that _thing_ is our sweet Amber's dead sister."

She paced even more aggressively as they waited. It took about ten minutes for her to finally snap, which was about nine minutes longer than Wildwing thought she would last.

"I'm going back to The Pond and getting my blaster," she stated as she grabbed her bag and left.

He didn't get a chance to say anything before she left, not that he really had anything to say. He just sat back, crossed his wings over his chest and settled in for a long wait.

* * *

Wildwing knew she couldn't stay in there forever, but it sure felt like it. She had been in there for so long that the sun was nearing the horizon and he wondered if there was some secret passage out of the store. When she finally emerged, she actually looked surprised to see him still there.

"I'll give you this, you are tenacious," she stated when she stopped in front of him. "Fat lot of good it's going to do you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"It means I'm out of here and you can go home," she answered as she started to turn away.

"Sorry, your majesty, but that isn't how the story goes," he growled as he stood up and loomed over her.

"Hate to break it to you, Wildwing, but you're not going to win this round," she told him with a sad shake of her head. "Just bow out gracefully before things turn ugly."

He made a grab for her. Before he could even blink, he was sitting back on the bench and unable to move. He stared at her in shock. With another shake of her head, she started to walk away.

"See you on the flip side, Wingwing," she said.

"Not so fast, blue beak," Mallory yelled as she stepped out from her hiding spot and fired her blaster.

The puck bolo wrapped around the mage's torso, forcing her wings down to her side. Wildwing almost cheered, until he realized that the ropes of the bolo weren't actually in contact with her. With a shrug, the ropes fell uselessly to the ground and the mage carefully put her bags down.

"Ever since I've gotten here, all you've done is shoot at me and harass me," the mage stated softly and they could hear the fury in those quiet words.

She slowly turned around and Wildwing swallowed nervously. Her eyes were glowing a bright white instead of the normal blue. Her hands were balled into fists and her face was a mask of pure anger.

"Enough is enough," she growled.

"Mallory!" he warned.

Mallory tried to dive out of the way of the ball of energy that came at her, but it moved with her. Wildwing struggled to get up and help her as the energy engulfed her, however, it was like he was glued to the bench. With a sweep of the mage's wing, Mallory found herself air born. With a shout of surprise by her and Wildwing, she landed in his lap. Their arms were suddenly wrapped around each other as if they were cuddling.

"There, now don't you two make a cute couple," the mage sarcastically spat out. "Don't bother getting up."

"DUKE! GET HER!" Wildwing shouted.

She quickly spun around and looked for the other team mate. She wasn't expecting the attack to come from above. He swung down from the roof of the music store and grabbed her around the waist.

She gave a startled yelp as her feet left the ground. They landed several feet away from her bags. Duke got his other wing around her just before she started struggling.

He managed to hang on to her for a few seconds. Then he found himself flat on his back and stunned. He felt like he had been hit with enough energy to light The Pond.

He shook his head to clear it. He barely registered that Wildwing and Mallory were yelling at him, though he couldn't figure out what they were saying yet. He finally looked up at the mage as she turned around.

It took all of half a second for her to recognize him. He tried to scramble backwards as her eyes blazed white hot again.

"_YOU!"_ she shrieked angrily.

He found himself flying towards her by no visible means. She grabbed the front of his shirt, getting chest feathers in the process. Before he could complain, she shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth.

"Where is she!?" she yelled as she continued to scramble his brain cells. "What did you do with her!?" _shake_ "WHERE" _shake_ "IS" _shake_ "MY" _shake_ "SISTER!?" _shake_ "WHERE" _shake_ "IS" _shake_ "AMBER!?"

* * *

Nosedive was in the kitchen making himself a super-duper-deluxe sandwich.

"A couple slices of cheese-some pickles-a banana...," he happily hummed to himself.

Just as he was putting the finishing touches on it, the emergency klaxon went off.

"Ah man," he griped.

He quickly grabbed his sandwich and ran for the control center. Tanya was already there typing away at Drake One while Grin stood next to her watching.

"What's that?" she asked, staring at the food in Nosedive's hands.

"It's my famous Super-Duper-Deluxe Sandwich," he answered as he took a bite and some of the ingredients fell out.

"That looks disgus...disgus...That looks gross," she said before turning back to the super computer. "Wildwing has sent a distress signal. He's in the mall."

"What could be distressing at the mall?" Nosedive asked.

"He's been following the blue beak all day," she reminded him. "Guess things finally got out of hand."

"It's time for some pay back karma," Grin stated as he activated his battle gear.

"Let's do this thing!" Nosedive exclaimed as he activated his own gear and shoved the last of his sandwich into his mouth.

A couple of minutes later, they hit the doors to The Pond running. They transformed their shoes into jet skates to make better time. Following the indicator on their communicators, they found their missing team mates.

What they found left them with their beaks hanging open.

* * *

"SHE'S FINE!" Duke shouted as he struggled to get out of her amazingly strong grip.

"What did you do with her!?" she growled, her eyes still a hot white, though she did stop shaking him.

"I took her with me and we found other survivors," he gasped a bit winded after nearly having his beak shaken off of his face. "She got people organized to bring in supplies and other survivors. She started out running a refuge camp until the resistance found them. After that, she helped run the resistance."

"That sounds just like her," she sighed with relief. "She was always so organized."

With a small contented smile, she let him go. She walked back towards her things, seemingly ignoring the other ducks.

Wildwing got Duke's attention and nodded toward the mage. Duke pulled his saber off it's holder and quietly walked toward her. As a former thief he was quieter than a snowflake when he wanted to be, or so he thought.

Before he got more than a couple steps, the puck bolo that had been laying on the ground suddenly sprang to life. It moved too fast for his brain to properly process and much too fast for his blade to cut. Not that his blade was going to do him much good laying on the ground.

The ropes wrapped around him from shoulder to ankle, tight enough that he couldn't move, but loose enough not to cut off circulation. Suddenly, he was yanked off of his feet and he found himself hanging upside down. He looked toward his feet and saw that the end of the rope had tied itself around a rather sturdy branch of the tree shading the bench Wildwing and Mallory were occupying.

He was grabbed and spun around. His heart leaped up into his throat when he came beak to beak with a really cheesed off mage.

"That's for destroying the support beam," she growled. "You may have saved Amber, but that doesn't mean I've forgiven you for trying to kill me."

With that, she turned away and marched back to her bags.

"Ruby Rotente!" Mallory yelled. "I command you to release us!"

"And I would do that _why_?" Ruby asked with one eyebrow arched.

"I true named you?" Mallory replied rather lamely. "You're supposed to do what I tell you."

"Even if the whole true naming thing was real, which it's not, do you honestly believe I would use the name on my hatching certificate?" Ruby questioned with a chuckle.

"It was worth a shot," Mallory muttered, crestfallen.

"True, it was," Ruby said as she finished gathering her bags. "I do commend you for at least trying. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take my leave of you before backup arrives. I wouldn't want any of these good folk to end up being caught in the cross fire."

Belatedly, the trapped ducks realized that they were surrounded by a bunch of humans. Several of them had cameras or cell phones out either taking pictures or video of them.

"Oh, this is not good," Duke grumbled as he slowly spun around in the wind.

"Phil is going to have kittens if this ends up on the evening news," Mallory mumbled. "This couldn't possibly get worse."

"The others will be here soon," Wildwing assured them.

"Fat lot of good that's going to do us," Duke complained. "She's gone."

"Blast it!" Mallory stated as she looked around as best she could. "I don't see her."

"First things first," Wildwing said as he tried to move his wings. "We need to get out of this mess."

He and Mallory struggled to let go of each other, but it was like they were glued together. This was getting beyond embarrassing.

"Well, don't you two make a cute couple," Klegghorn chuckled and not in a very nice way.

"What was that about things not getting any worse?" Duke asked.

"You called Klegghorn?" Mallory demanded.

"No," Wildwing growled just as the rest of the team came around the corner.

They stood there, staring, not sure if they should be horrified or laughing their beaks off.

"This isn't what it looks like," Mallory forcefully stated as she strained to get free of the spell binding her to her captain.

"Should we leave you two alone?" Nosedive teased, trying not to laugh and not doing a very good job of it.

"Or maybe get you a room?" Tanya added.

"If it wouldn't be too much bother," Duke called, pulling their attention away from the two on the bench. "Would someone please get me down?"

Managing to keep his inner calm, unlike the other two, Grin went over, easily broke the rope and got him down. Tanya and Nosedive did manage to pull it together long enough to go over and try and separate Wildwing and Mallory. Unfortunately, it did no good.

"You mind telling me what's going on?" Klegghorn asked Wildwing. "I thought you guys were gonna help the new duck, not try and beat her up. Though, from the looks of it, it looks like she can hold her own."

Wildwing and Mallory struggled a bit more to get free. While they squirmed, Wildwing told Klegghorn about their first meeting with the mage. As he related the tale it finally, truly, hit him. The mask was gone and he would most likely never see it again. This planet was doomed.

He stopped fighting and slumped down in defeat. That's when he found he was free. It took him a few seconds to realize what happened. He was ready to jump up and go after Ruby until he realized that Mallory was still stuck to him.

"Mallory, try relaxing," he instructed after thinking about what he was doing right before the spell broke.

She looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I relaxed and now I can move my wings," he pointed out.

It took her a while longer, but she finally did manage to relax. The moment she stopped fighting and let her muscles go she was free. She immediately stood up and looked away from Wildwing.

"Awkwaaaard," Nosedive muttered and Mallory gave him a death glare.

"Listen, I don't care what your problem is with this other duck," Klegghorn stated to Wildwing. "You will NOT be picking fights with her where other people could get hurt. Is that clear?"

Wildwing looked around at all of the humans walking by and the few that were still hanging around. The people who worked in the nearby stores were just starting to head back inside their shops now that the show was over. He didn't miss the dirty looks he got from the employees of the music shop.

"Yes, Captain," Wildwing muttered.

"Good!" Klegghorn stated with a nod. "If the mask is so important to you, why not make another one?"

Klegghorn turned on his heel and walked away, leaving behind a bunch of stunned ducks.


	11. Mask Retrieval

"Tanya?" Wildwing asked.

"I'll get right on it," Tanya replied. "I'll need to, you know, pick up some things from Electric Land first."

"Fine, but take someone with you," Wildwing instructed. "From now on, we travel in pairs. Until we figure out where Ruby went and what her plans are, we don't go anywhere alone."

"Ruby?" Tanya asked in surprise and confusion. "As in Ruby Rotente?"

"Turns out there was a reason the blue beak looked familiar," Mallory responded bitterly. "Ruby Rotente isn't dead, like we were lead to believe."

She glared at Duke.

"Hey, it wasn't for lack of tryin'," Duke replied with a shrug.

"You want to tell us what happened the day you found Amber?" Wildwing questioned.

"It was the day Dragaunus and his goons first came to Puckworld," Duke started. "I wasn't in the direct line of fire, but I was close. After the ships moved off, I joined a search and rescue group. We heard a couple of girls screaming for help. We were able to dig a hole down to them, but I was the only one small enough to fit. When I got down to them, there was this weird glow. The older sister was a blue beak and her eyes were glowing. It looked like she was holding the debris away from her sister. I got the younger sister out and handed her off to the other rescuers. Then I went back and knocked the support beam out which caused the house to cave in. I barely got out of there alive. Never thought that she'd survive having a house dropped on her."

"She told me that mages are fairly indestructible," Wildwing stated. "From what I've seen so far, I have to believe her."

"Mages?" Nosedive asked.

"That's what they call themselves," Wildwing answered. "Calling her a blue beak to her face will likely get you zapped."

"So, why didn't you tell us that this was Amber's sister we were dealing with?" Mallory demanded of Duke.

"Would it have really mattered if you had known her name?" Duke counter questioned. "She would still have the mask. Besides, I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was her. When I dropped the house on her, she was a good deal bigger. She's a _lot_ thinner than I remember."

"None of that matters right now," Wildwing interrupted before Mallory could harangue Duke any more. "Let's get back to base."

"Who wants to go with me to Electric Land?" Tanya inquired.

"I'll go with you," Mallory offered. "I'm not quite ready to go back. Maybe I'll get another crack at _her_."

"All right," Wildwing said. "If you do run into her, call for back up immediately. Do not engage her in a fight unless you have to. Klegghorn was right, we could have hurt someone today. We need to be more careful."

"Will do," Mallory agreed with a nod.

Wildwing and the other males headed toward The Pond while Tanya and Mallory went off to the electronics store. They never thought that their day wasn't over by a long shot.

* * *

With a sigh of relief, she shut the motel room door. She carefully placed her bags on the bed and tossed the room key onto the nightstand before turning back toward the door. She was so tired, but she needed to ward the room before she would feel safe. Once that was accomplished, she would finally feel at peace. She needed to be calm before she could start aligning her energies with this planet's energy. She couldn't be calm if she didn't feel safe.

She placed her hand on the door and cast a spell that would only let her and those that she allowed into the room. She repeated it for the window. Then, for good measure, she reinforced the walls, floor and ceiling. They wouldn't be completely impervious to an all out attack, but it would slow the enemy down.

She tiredly sat on the bed and gave in to the need to scratch the back of her hand. It had been bugging her for hours, but she didn't dare show weakness in front of the other ducks. She remembered how she had to get her hand out of the protective bubble so she could hide The Mask. She got a scratch on the back of her hand for her troubles.

The scratch was so minor that the doctors hadn't even bothered to put a bandage on it. She gave her hand another scratch and felt a strange anomaly there. She turned on the light next to the bed so she could examine her hand. Her heart nearly stopped and she definitely stopped breathing for a moment.

Three feathers on the back of her hand were broken and half of them were missing. She fought off going into a blind panic. She got up and started to pace the room. Chances were those feathers were lining some animal's nest or blown far away. However, she needed to be sure.

She got the maps out of one of the bags and spread them out on the floor. She lined the edges of the maps together as best she could. She touched the most central map and sent the magic through the paper. It took a few minutes, but when the spell was done, she had one large map.

"Show me," she commanded the map and spot appeared on the map where she was.

"Show the Mighty Ducks," she ordered and a moment later, six more dots appeared.

Four spots were fairly stationary at a place the map labeled The Pond. The other two were moving toward the first four. She could find out which two, but they weren't important at that moment.

"Show The Mask."

It took her a moment to find the dot at the edge of the map. The dot wasn't too far into Weir Canyon Regional Park, but the park wasn't within walking distance of her current location. She was going to have to figure out how to get there and quickly.

With a wave of her hand, the dots disappeared and the map folded itself up. By the time it was done, it was the same size and shape as one map would have been. She grabbed it and headed back to the bed. She dug around in the bags until she found the messenger bag she had bought. After transferring some of her money into it, she put the map and room key in too. She took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves.

The broken feathers were probably blowing in the wind. She was just going to get The Mask. It wouldn't do for someone to damage the tree just to get at the object within it.

She gave a snort of disgust at herself. Sometimes it really sucked not being able to lie, especially to one's self. She knew if the wrong person got hold of those feather fragments, she would be in big trouble.

She yanked the broken feathers out of the back of her hand. She called the fire and evaporated the ruined feathers. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Without a backward glance, she exited the room and made sure the door shut firmly behind her. She headed down to the lobby to find the best way to get to the park. Time to fulfill her job as a Keeper.

* * *

"Awwww, look at the duckies in love," Chameleon cooed at the screen.

"Will you shut it?" Siege snarled.

"What's this?" Lord Dragaunus demanded as he entered the control room.

"Just some video the humans got of Wildwing and Mallory getting to be more than team mates," Siege answered with disgust.

"How vile," Dragaunus grumbled as he turned the monitor off. "WRAITH!"

A cloud of mist rose up from the floor and the Saurian wizard stepped out of it a moment later.

"Yes, my lord?" Wraith responded.

"How is that little project of yours coming along?" Dragaunus asked.

"Preparations are almost complete," Wraith answered.

"Excellent, " Dragaunus chuckled evilly. "Soon there will be at least one less duck on this wretched planet."

* * *

She stepped out of the cab a few blocks from the park entrance. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she didn't want to chance the Mighty Ducks finding out she was going after The Mask. She wasn't up to another fight.

She paid the driver with a generous tip and watched him drive away. As soon as he was out of sight, she turned and headed toward the park. The spirits of the air danced around her joyfully, glad to be out of the confining space of the vehicle. She couldn't help but smile at their silly antics.

She had befriended them in the cab. They weren't the best allies as they tended to be flighty and a bit air headed. However, they were a start and they were everywhere. They also made excellent spies if you could keep them focused.

It was fully dark by the time she reached the park entrance. Getting in wasn't a problem, it was the lack of light. The moon wasn't up yet and it was getting darker the further she got from the street lights. She went around a bend and the darkness became almost absolute.

She decided to risk creating a light to help her see. The ball of light wasn't much bigger than a puck, but it helped her see the path she was on. She kept the light low to the ground and started to walk again.

She ignored the air spirits as they fluttered around the ball of light like moths attracted to a flame. She was concentrating on locating where The Mask was. She knew it was in the park, but it was hard to feel where exactly because it was so far away from her.

She could hear water nearby and decided to make a little detour. It was a long shot to get the water spirits to accept her, but she had to try. They were mercurial, always changing and very temperamental. They would be great allies, but they could be very dangerous enemies. With the light leading the way, she carefully made her way down to the creek.

She found a fairly flat spot and sat down. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She let all of her worries and concerns go, bringing a calmness to herself.

When she felt she was ready, she reached for the water. Where it should have been, there was only air. She moved her hand a bit, but again, the water avoided her.

The air spirits danced around her and the small light. She ignored them and kept her calm. She wasn't surprised that the water wasn't willing to accept her, at least not yet.

She waited until the moon came up, but still, the water spirits refused to come to her. With a sigh, she stood up, brushed herself off and headed back to the path. Once there, she could see that the moon was just past full and was casting enough light for her to see the path. She extinguished the magical light and continued on.

When she came to a fork in the path, she sent the air spirits to look for the tree that felt like her. She stood there for some time waiting. When they did return, less than half had come back and of those that did return, only few remembered what they had been sent to do.

Once she got a coherent answer, she took the right path and started to climb. She repeated the process several more times until, at long last, she could more accurately detect the tree on her own. It was part way up a hill on the other side of the river. The same river that nearly took her life.

She could feel the animosity from the spirits in the river. They didn't like the fire she carried within her. She sent the air spirits off in search of a bridge. While the creek was small and avoided her touch, the river was large and could easily attack her. If she was ever to make peace with those spirits, it was best not to anger them right now.

Fortunately, the air spirits returned with the location of a bridge. To reward them for being so helpful, she gave them a little bit of her energy. She took a chance of having some of the spirits follow her around for the rest of whatever, but that was fine.

The more one became attached to a mage, the brighter and more focused it became. They could become a type of magical pet. The down side was that given enough time and energy, spirits could become Elementals. Elementals were _nobody's_ pet.

She soon found the bridge and crossed the river. She wondered if the river was normally this active at this spot or if it was upset that she was so close to it. She crossed quickly so as not to rile the spirits any more than she had to.

She could feel the energy of The Mask close by and she followed it as best she could. She created another light so that she could walk the narrow area between the cliff and the river. The loose rocks and dirt made for hazardous walking and she'd rather not have a twisted ankle. She still had to get out of the park after she got The Mask and checked on the feathers.

She slowly made her way to the spot under the tree and looked up the cliff. The moon was almost to its zenith, but even with it and her light it did _not_ look like a fun climb. With the way her luck had been running lately, she'd probably end up back in the river.

Not wanting to go for a midnight swim, she looked for an easier way up. The spirits were of no help since they couldn't understand how she couldn't just fly up to the top of the cliff like they could. It took her over an hour to finally find a way up and it was still pretty steep going.

When she finally got to the stand of trees, she was hot, sweaty and out of breath. The sandwich she had for dinner was hours ago and her stomach rumbled in protest from all of the calories she had been burning. Using magic could be just as exhausting as a heavy work out.

She was in much better shape now than she had been when she first became a mage. However, she still wasn't up to par to a hockey player. She put that out of her mind and did a quick spell to locate the broken feathers. When she came up with nothing, she moved on to the tree with The Mask.

She placed her hands on the trunk and felt the bark move under her hands. Could it be? Were the earth spirits willing to accept her already?

Earth spirits were slow, steady and stoic, but once their trust was earned, they were the most solid of allies. The problem was, she wasn't sure she had the time to make friends with these spirits. Aligning with earth spirits usually took hours and she had heard of one mage who had spent days becoming attuned to them. She decided that she didn't have the time or the energy to properly introduce herself to the earth spirits right at that moment.

"Mask, reveal yourself," she commanded.

She nearly startled herself with her own voice. After hearing the night sounds of the park for so long, it was a bit of a shock to hear something else. She silently laughed at herself and shook her head. Then she frowned.

The Mask didn't come to her. She knew she had the right tree. She could feel the magical energy about 10 feet above her.

"Mask! Reveal yourself!" she ordered forcefully.

She felt it try to respond to her, but it was being blocked. The spirit of the tree was holding it back. She tried for a third time, but the tree's spirit wouldn't cooperate.

She could try forcing the tree to give up The Mask, but that would probably end up damaging the tree and badly hurting its spirit. If she did that, her chances of making allies with the earth spirits would be shot to heck. There was no helping it. If she wanted to get The Mask back, she was going to have to align herself with the earth.

With a sigh of defeat, she settled herself at the base of the tree with her hands folded in her lap. She calmed and centered herself like she did before. She presented herself to the earth and expected to be there a long time.

What she got she could have _never_ anticipated. A surge of energy so strong and powerful hit her and it set every nerve in her body tingling. She gasped and grabbed hold of the ground, digging her fingers into the dirt. Her heart was pounding and her breath came in short gasping pants. The energy became more and more intense and she could feel her body start to writhe under the assault. She was sure she was about to die just as the power gave one last burst and she let out a scream that echoed through the woods.

She collapsed onto her side at the base of the tree panting. She felt as if her bones were made of water and her muscles had turned to mush. Tears streamed from her eyes, soaking into the ground. She doubted she could move, even if her life depended on it.

Something landed on her before hitting the ground next to her and she didn't even flinch. It took her several minutes before she could gather her wits enough to see what fell on her. With a shaking hand she gently touched The Mask. With a relieved sigh, she pulled The Mask closer to her so she could put it away.

That's when the first hunter drone appeared.

* * *

Sweet blessed sleep, how he wished he could obtain it. He had tried warm milk. He had tried taking a bath. He had even tried reading one of Tanya's technical manuals in hopes that it would send him to dream land. Instead, the milk made his stomach upset, the bath had left him edgy and the book had made his eyes cross and gave him a headache.

His last ditch effort was to exhaust himself. He had set up an automatic puck launcher and was blocking shots for a couple hours. When he missed more shots than he blocked, he was pretty sure he was exhausted enough to finally get some shut eye.

He dragged himself back to his room, shed his goalie equipment and took a quick shower. He collapsed onto his bunk with just his boxers on and blissfully fell asleep.

Almost immediately he began to dream. The dream was a strange thing. He was walking along a nature trail at night with a small glowing light leading the way. Strange transparent things flitted around the light.

The dream faded out and when it came back, he was seated next to a stream. His hand was where the water should be, but the water was avoiding him. Some small part in the back of his brain noticed that the hand was the wrong size and color to be his own.

Another fade and he found himself facing a dark river. He couldn't understand why the river seemed to hate him. How could water hate?

Another fade and he was beak to bark with a tree. Those hands that weren't his own were on the trunk of the tree. Did that tree just move?

Suddenly, he was sitting on the ground, his back to the tree. He could feel himself relax. He felt good.

With a startled shout, he fell out of bed. He felt like he had touched a live wire with his bare hands. His feathers were all standing on end and he laid there gasping for air. As his head started to clear, the emergency klaxon went off.

He scrambled up off the floor and got dressed. He forced himself to move quickly despite how his muscles felt like jelly. He left his room hopping on one foot as he put his boots on.

He got to the control center first, but the others were right behind him. He let Tanya go up the ladder to Drake One before him. By the time he was standing next to her, she was typing furiously away.

"What have you got, Tanya?" he asked.

"There are strange energy readings at the meadow," Tanya replied.

There was no need to ask her which meadow. They all knew.

"Are the other mages opening another portal?" Mallory asked.

"I don't think so," Tanya answered. "The energy isn't exactly the same, though hers is there too."

Before any more can be asked of Tanya, another klaxon went off.

"What the heck was that about?" Wildwing demanded.

"Saurian teleporter readings in the same area!" Tanya exclaimed in surprise. "Whatever they're teleporting, it's big. I mean, like, huge!"

"To the Aerowing!" Wildwing ordered.

No one questioned his command. Mage and strange energy readings or not, there was no way they could sit by when the Saurians were on the move.


	12. Hunter Drones

What the heck were those things? Walking trash compactors?

"Kill the mage," one of the overgrown tin cans said in a monotone voice.

She didn't care what they were, they _weren_'_t_ friendly. She tightened her grip on The Mask and bolted out between the trees, not noticing that she had dropped her bag. It was amazing what adrenaline could do for a tired body. As soon as she cleared the trees, more of those metal monsters appeared out of thin air.

She blasted the one in front of her and ran toward the hole in the circle of machines. She hadn't gotten more than a couple steps before another one took its place. They started firing at her.

They couldn't get through the magic that protected her, at least not yet. She had had a long day dealing with the Mighty Ducks and her evening had consisted of a lot of hiking. The magic wouldn't hold them off forever.

She kept blasting away, destroying one after another, but they kept coming. Their own blasts were starting to knock her around. The protective magic was weakening and they were closing in. She could feel the panic setting in.

Memories of the house coming down, of being trapped rose unbidden. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. The fire burning in her chest was the only thing that kept her on this side of sanity.

She heard more weapon fire and some yelling, but she couldn't fathom what it meant. At some point she had lost hold of The Mask, but it didn't matter now. There was someone else there.

"Well, this is most unexpected," he stated.

She had never seen one before, not even a picture, but that didn't matter. She knew what he was the moment she laid eyes on him. A Saurian wizard was there and that was when she lost it.

* * *

They had gotten in the air in record time and were almost to the meadow when they saw laser fire lighting up the night sky.

"Looks like there's a quite the party going on down there," Duke said in amusement. "Too bad we weren't invited."

"Guess we're going to have to crash it then," Wildwing replied. "Tanya, hold us steady over the meadow and then take the Aerowing up. But be on standby in case we need you."

"Will do," Tanya responded as she carefully maneuvered the air ship into place.

The rest of the team rappelled down behind the scores of hunter drones. They could see Ruby in the center blasting the drones as fast as she could. They could hear the drones saying "Kill the mage" over and over again before they even hit the ground.

"Wow, I thought we had it in for her," Duke stated in mild amusement as he got his blade out.

They started to destroy drones left and right, but the machines just ignored them.

"Man, this isn't any fun," Nosedive complained as he annihilated a couple more drones.

"Why are we even bothering to help her?" Mallory asked as another over grown tin can bit the dust.

"The enemy of my enemy is my ally," Grin stated while he tore another robot into scrap metal.

"Uh, Grin, that like made no sense," Nosedive replied.

"Grin's right," Wildwing responded. "Ruby is obviously an enemy of Dragaunus's. While we may not like her, we can at least try to work together. Besides, if something happens to her, how will we get the mask back?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a scream of outrage that came from the center of the drones. The shock wave that hit them a second later knocked them all flat. Wildwing saw Wraith laying on the ground not too far away just before the Saurian teleported out of there. A shriek of anger and frustration brought his attention back toward the center of the meadow.

He couldn't see much from his position on the ground, but there was a strange glow coming from where he was guessing Ruby should have been. It appeared that the drones that were closer to her were now slag. The drones that survived, got up off the ground and continued their assault.

The team scrambled to their feet. Before they could start creating more scrap metal, there was another scream of anger. They were hit with a wall of heat that made them step back.

The glow from the center of the drones grew brighter as the heat intensified. They took more steps back as the temperature rose. Then they saw the source of the heat and light and they all stopped and stared.

Ruby glowed a bright golden red, her eyes the same color as the glow. And it almost looked like she was on fire. Her hair had escaped its braid and was writhing around her like it was alive. Despite all that, the glowing and moving hair wasn't what stopped them dead in their tracks. She was floating several feet off of the ground with no visible means of support.

With another shriek, she aggressive swung her wing at the drones and a swathe of machines were melted to the earth. The drones continued to shoot at her, but she took no notice. Wave after wave of her wings she gave and row after row of drones melted before their eyes. Her screams of anger echoed through the hills and chilled the ducks to their bones.

They backed up against the side of the hill and then held perfectly still. Maybe it was strategic or maybe it was instinct that kept them from moving. Either way, it probably saved their lives.

When the last of the hunter drones were nothing more than a pile of smoldering slag, she turned her attention to them. Wildwing heard someone audibly swallow. He hoped it was someone else, but he had the sinking suspicion that it was him. Her eyes bore into his and he couldn't move. He had a pretty good idea how a butterfly pinned to a board felt.

"What were those things?" Ruby asked, her voice had a strange echo to it.

"Hunter drones," Wildwing answered, wondering if his shield would be able to protect them should she decide to attack.

"Truth," she stated as her eyes started to glow blue instead of red. "Who sent them?"

"Lord Dragaunus," he replied.

"Truth," she repeated as the glow lessened, her voice returned to normal and she started to slowly sink back down to the ground. "The wizard. Who is he? Are there more?"

"His name is Wraith," he told her as she continued to visibly calm down. "He's the only wizard that we know of."

"Truth," she quietly said again and they started to move away from the hillside. "Where did he go?"

"He probably went back to the Raptor," he responded. "We don't know where it is."

"LIE!" she shrieked as the fiery glow returned and floated higher as they backed up again.

"The Raptor is somewhere in the Pacific Ocean," he hastily amended. "But we don't know where in the ocean."

"Truth," she whispered.

She seemed to have nothing more to ask of them. She floated backward until she was as far across the meadow as she could get from them. She closed her eyes and the glow went away a moment later. She fell to the earth and collapsed in a heap.

They waited a good long minute to see what she would do next. When she continued to not move, they cautiously stepped forward. They didn't have far to go before they reached the edge of the battle field. It was covered with the smoldering remains of drones.

"Wow," Nosedive quietly said. "This brings a whole new definition to being slagged off."

"How did we get lucky yesterday afternoon?" Duke questioned.

"She wasn't fighting for her life," Wildwing reminded him.

"Hey guys," Mallory softly called.

"Yeah?" Duke asked when they had all turned to her.

"What's that?" she inquired, pointing toward the stand of trees. "Am I seeing things?"

The others turned to look at where she was indicating.

"If you're hallucinating, then so am I," Nosedive confirmed.

Barely daring to breathe, Wildwing carefully walked over to the white object at the base of a pine tree. It was face down and partially covered in dirt, but it seemed to be unharmed by the battle that just took place. With his heart pounding, he slowly reached for the mask.

Just as his fingers touched it, it zipped out of his reach by nearly a foot.

"What the heck!?" Wildwing exclaimed in surprise.

He took a bold step toward the mask and made a grab for it, only to have it go skittering away.

"What did she do to it?" Mallory demanded, glaring at the still figure across the meadow.

"I don't care," Wildwing growled as he gave chase. "Just help me catch this thing!"

In a matter of moments the five ducks were chasing a supposedly inanimate object all over the meadow. There was more than one meeting of minds when more than one duck made a grab for the maddening thing at the same time. Anyone who did manage to get hold of the mask ended up being dragged over dirt and drone bits until they let go.

They finally had the mask surrounded. Nosedive made the grab and it shot toward his brother. Wildwing tried to make the block, but the mask had other ideas. It shot upwards, smacking him in the beak on the way over his head.

Wildwing spun around and tried to grab it as it burrowed under Ruby. He stopped short of touching her. He wasn't up for another shock like the one he got the last time he touched her when she was out cold.

He looked down at her still form and resisted the urge to brush her loose hair out of her face. That was when he noticed the small flame near her hand. Not wanting to be responsible for a grass fire, he went to stomp it out. Only the flame jumped out from under his boot and ended up on the small part of the mask that was sticking out from under the mage.

"What the heck!?" Wildwing exclaimed in confusion and quite a bit of worry.

He started to reach for the mask, despite the strange flame that was starting to spark.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," a soft voice cautioned causing him to nearly jump right out of his feathers.

"Why not?" he demanded, staring at the prone figure.

His patience was at an end and here she was pretending to take a nap. He just wanted to get the mask and then take his team home. Was that really too much to ask?

"Because the salamander will burn you," she told him.

"Salamander?" he questioned in disbelief. "What salamander?"

"The flame," she told him. "It's a salamander."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "Even if there was a lizard hanging around, how would you know where it was? Your eyes are closed."

"Don't need my eyes to tell where a living flame is," she cryptically replied, finally opening her eyes. "And mundane salamanders are amphibians."

He glared at her and she gave him a small smile. She slowly sat up and he could tell it wasn't easy for her, but he didn't help her. It was so incredibly frustrating to have the mask so close and still have it out of reach. He didn't quite trust himself not to throttle her for all the problems she had created.

As soon as she was sitting up, she pushed her hair back over her shoulders. She picked up The Mask and the small flame suddenly started zipping all over her hands. She gave a low chuckle as she watched it. She flipped a hand over, palm up and the tiny flame settled there.

"See? Salamander," she stated as she held her hand out to him.

He didn't really want to look, but curiosity got the better of him. He took a closer look and sure enough, there was something in the flame. It looked like a miniature lizard about the size of his thumb and he started to reach over to touch it.

"Don't," she warned as she quickly pulled her hand away. "It _will_ burn you."

"Then how come it isn't burning you?" he snapped.

"It appears I'm fire proof," she stated sadly. "How did The Mask end up under me?"

"As if you didn't know," Mallory retorted as she and the others came up behind their captain.

"What did you do to the mask?" Wildwing demanded.

"Nothing," Ruby replied.

"Yeah, right," Nosedive snorted.

"Do I _really_ need to go over the whole not being able to lie thing again?" Rube asked Wildwing heatedly.

"Then you explain why every time we tried to touch it, it moved," Wildwing shot back.

"It moved on it's own?" she questioned in bewilderment. "It shouldn't be able to do that."

"It was like it was possessed," Duke stated, disgruntled.

The ground under Wildwing's feet suddenly moved and he jumped back with a yelp of surprise. A blob of dirt about the size of his fist half crawled, half slid to Ruby and then climbed into her lap. The others stood there with their beaks hanging open while she only looked interested at the thing in her lap.

"What is-that?" Nosedive questioned, his voice just barely below a squeak.

"An earth spirit," Ruby answered distractedly as she bent closer to it.

The others watched in shock as she seemed to be listening to it. After a few seconds, her beak started to twitch like she was holding in a laugh. About a minute later, the earth spirit crawled off of her lap and disappeared back into the ground.

Before the Mighty Ducks could get over their shock, her hair started to move as if she had her own personal fan going. There was no breeze, so now they had to wonder what else was going on. Her hair settled down a moment later and she stared at something they couldn't see a few inches in front of her beak. She suddenly started snickering, though she did try to hold it in.

"Oh, how I wish I had seen that," Ruby chuckled and she couldn't help but grin at the looks on their faces. "It seems the earth and air spirits were having a bit of fun at your expense."

"Which means what?" Wildwing asked.

"It means that they knew I was trying to retrieve The Mask and when they saw you trying to take it, they played keep away with you," Ruby answered with a grin.

"Is that what that is?" Wildwing inquired, pointing at the flame sitting in her hand. "A fire spirit or something?"

"No, this is a newly formed Elemental," Ruby replied with a sigh. "And to forestall the next question, the differences between spirits and Elementals are many. However, for brevity, spirits are bits of magical energy that are aware, have almost no form and are not very powerful. Elementals are highly intelligent, have actual shapes and are extremely dangerous when crossed."

"They all look like that?" Wildwing asked.

"No, think of all the magical creatures from fairy tales," she answered. "Dragons, mermaids, fairies and salamanders are all Elementals."

"But they're not real," Mallory stated. "They're just fairy tales."

"Are they?" Ruby questioned, tilting her head to the side a bit. "Every story, every legend has a grain of truth in it somewhere."

"If they're real, how come we never see them?" Duke questioned.

"Because they're magical and they don't want you to see them," Ruby replied. "This planet is filled with magic, but there are no native magic users, are there?"

"There are stage magicians," Nosedive stated uncertainly and she shook her head.

"That's trickery, not magic," she replied. "With no magic users here, they've laid dormant for who knows how long. Not to sound egotistical, but things might start getting more interesting now that I'm here."

"Wraith has been here for a year and there haven't been any magical creatures walking down main street," Wildwing pointed out.

"The Saurian obviously hasn't tried to get to know them," she said as she struggled to her feet. "Even if he did try, chances are, the spirits would reject him. If you can't make nice with the spirits, the Elementals will sooner rip you to shreds than look at you. Even getting the spirits to like you isn't a guarantee that an Elemental won't stomp you flat."

"So, that thing will kill us if we don't make nice?" Nosedive asked as he pointed at the salamander.

"Nah, it's not big enough yet," she stated with a fond smile at the little flame. "It's just a baby. The most it can do right now is give you a bit of a burn."

She brought the hand containing the salamander closer to her body. The tiny creature leaped from her hand and landed on her chest. It sparked a few times and then ran up her front. It then crawled around the back of her neck and hid in her long hair.

"What happened to your shirt?" Wildwing asked.

He tried not to stare at the shirt that had the chest area burnt out. She wasn't indecently exposed, but there were enough feathers showing to make any red blooded male duck sit up and take notice. It was hard to tell, but it looked like some of her feathers were dully glowing that same golden red color. If it had been day, he wouldn't have noticed the glowing at all.

"A really long story that I'm not in the mood to talk about right now," she stated in a tone that made it clear that to push it was asking for trouble. "Where's my bag?"

"I don't know," he retorted after managing to pull his eyes back up to her face.

"I wasn't asking you," she snapped tiredly.

She slowly walked toward the trees. Before he could ask her where she was going, he saw something moving along the ground between the trees. A moment later he saw it was a messenger bag and it looked like a clod of dirt was pulling it by its strap.

"Thank you," she said to the ground.

She picked up the bag and put The Mask in it. After slinging it across her body, she carefully started to make her way down the hill. Wildwing signaled to Duke and the former thief nodded his understanding.

"What? No goodbye?" Wildwing asked as he quickly got in her way.

"I wasn't aware that we were on good enough terms to exchange such pleasantries," she shot back annoyed.

There was a whispered warning in her ear and she moved the bag just before the light footed thief did a beak plant in the dirt next to her.

"You and your team are tenacious," she stated as she stepped around Wildwing. "Though, apparently, not very bright."

She continued her journey without a backward glance. Wildwing tried to go after again only to discover that his feet had sunk into the ground up to his knees. A quick glance at his team confirmed that the rest of them hadn't fared any better. In fact, Duke had the worst of it as he was buried up to his neck. He had no choice but to give up the chase and call in Tanya for help. Nothing was worth the lives of his team, not even the mask.


	13. Forest Lord

She was so tired she wanted to cry. Sheer pride and stubbornness kept her from breaking down in front of Wildwing and his team. She would be more likely to get compassion from one of those machines she destroyed than from them.

On legs shaking with fatigue, she very slowly made her way down the steep hill. She was eternally grateful that the earth spirits had insisted that she take the time to get to know them. She wouldn't have gotten away much less have The Mask if it weren't for them. They seemed starved for attention, if their actions were any indication.

How long had this world gone without a magic user? If it had been as long as she feared, she might have opened up a really big can of worms by coming here. The Elementals would have gone dormant without magic users around. If her being there suddenly woke them up, there could be some major problems. Elementals tended to _not_ like surprises.

She put any thoughts of magical beings out of her mind and concentrated on making it down the hill in one piece. She didn't have the energy to create another light, so she had to rely on the light from the moon. It was taking her longer to get down the hill than it had to get up it.

She had perhaps made it about half way down when the air spirits went crazy around her. It took her some time to calm them down. By the time she had, she could hear what they had been trying to warn her about.

She looked up and saw the Aerowing not too far away. It was using a massive search light to illuminate the hillside. They were coming right for her and she knew that they were tracking her somehow.

She needed a place to hide. She desperately looked around and the earth spirits came to her rescue again. She grabbed a large pine cone off of the ground and headed for safety, despite the spitting and sparking salamander sitting on her beak.

* * *

It had taken them over an hour to finally get free. The earth spirits weren't about to let them go and kept pulling them back in every time they got out. In the end, they had to use the Aerowing and the rappelling lines to get out. Duke was going to have a bruise around his middle from the rope being tied around his waist.

They were tired, dirty and pretty angry by the time they got back on board. He knew she couldn't have gotten far. She had looked like she was ready to drop and only pure stubbornness had kept her upright.

"Any luck?" Wildwing asked Tanya.

"I've just finished calibrating the sensors to pick up her energy readings," Tanya answered as she pushed a few more buttons. "There! If she's within a half mile radius, she should show up on the screen."

At that moment, a blip appeared on the radar.

"There she is!" Wildwing exclaimed. "Great work, Tanya."

"Ahh, it was nothing," Tanya replied with a blush.

He turned on the search light as he maneuvered the air ship. He could see something moving through the trees and he carefully moved the Aerowing into position. Just when he thought he had her pinpointed, she disappeared. He could no longer see her on the ground and she wasn't on the radar either.

"Where the heck did she go!?" Wildwing demanded of no one. "Why isn't she on the radar!?"

"She should be," Tanya said worriedly as she furiously started checking the machine. "It's set to her energy readings."

"Can she teleport?" Mallory asked.

"If she could, wouldn't she have used it long before now?" Duke countered. "Like yesterday afternoon? Or when she was fighting Dragaunus's drones."

"I'm going down there," Wildwing stated as he switched the controls over to the copilot position. "Dive, take over."

"No problamo, bro," Nosedive replied.

"I'm going with you," Mallory stated.

"Fine," Wildwing agreed before turning to the oldest member of the team. "Duke, you up to joining us? I could use your tracking skills."

"Yeah, sure," Duke replied with a shrug. "I'm always up to being nearly sucked into the ground."

"I'll go down first," Wildwing stated. "If the spirits are still protecting her, then we won't go down. No sense in getting them riled up again."

"That sounded like it came straight from one of those silly ghost horror movies," Mallory muttered and Wildwing silently agreed with her.

"Dive, bring us over her last known location," Wildwing instructed as he opened the side door. "Tanya, Grin, watch the lines and get ready to pull us up at a moments notice."

"You got it," Tanya agreed.

A few minutes later, the three ducks were being lowered to the ground. Wildwing set down first. He didn't let go of his line until he was 100% sure he wasn't going to get sucked into the earth. As soon as he felt it was safe, he let go of his line and the other two joined him on terra firma.

"Dive, bring the search light around so we can see what we're doing," Wildwing instructed into his communicator.

"Will do, bro," Nosedive responded.

A few moments later, the area was flooded with light. With orders to stay within shouting distance of each other, the searchers went their separate ways. After nearly an hour of looking, Duke found something and called the other two over.

"What have you got?" Wildwing asked.

"Foot prints," he answered, indicating to the ground.

"So, now we know she came this way," Mallory stated. "But which way did she go?"

"That's just it," Duke replied as he pointed at the last clear foot print. "The prints just stop. There's plenty of soft dirt right here, so there's no reason for them to suddenly stop."

"Maybe she's in a tree?" Wildwing suggested, looking up.

"I don't think so," Duke stated. "None of the branches are low enough for her to jump up and grab. She didn't have any rope on her and her bag didn't look like it contained much of anything when she picked it up."

"Then we're back to her being able to teleport," Mallory pointed out.

"I don't think so," Wildwing responded. "I'm no scientist, but I know that teleporting would take a lot of energy. She looked like she was ready to drop. Besides, if she could teleport, why didn't she do that instead of fighting us yesterday? Or when she was fighting the hunter drones earlier?"

"You know, there might be a more down to earth explanation," Duke added.

"What would that be?" Wildwing asked.

"Well, if those earth spirits things could pull us down and keep us from chasing her, what's to say they can't just open a tunnel for her," Duke pointed out.

"In that case, she could be anywhere," Wildwing sighed in defeat and then he activated his communicator again. "Dive, we're coming back up."

"Any luck?" Nosedive asked as the Aerowing started to come closer.

"I'm afraid not, baby brother," Wildwing answered. "We'll discuss it when we're back up."

Getting back up into the ship took a bit more time, but they returned without any spirits bothering them. Once they were safely on board, Nosedive took them home. Meanwhile, Wildwing explained what they found and Duke's theory of where she disappeared to.

Soon, they landed back at The Pond. Exhausted, dirty and defeated, they slowly made their way down the gangplank.

"I want everyone to get some rest," Wildwing tiredly ordered. "We'll have practice after lunch."

"The mask is gone and you want to play hockey?" Mallory demanded.

"Mask or no mask, we have a game in a couple days," Wildwing reminded her. "We need to get some practice in if we're going to play a half decent game."

There was some grumbling, but they didn't argue with him. With shuffling feet, they staggered off to their rooms. Wildwing watched them go. In the year of being their captain, he had never seen them so defeated in either body or spirit.

* * *

"Well?" Dragaunus growled upon Wraith's return. "Where is the carcass of the mage you promised me?"

"It seems the mage wasn't what I was expecting, my lord," Wraith started.

"And what were you expecting?" Dragaunus snarled.

"A male, first of all," Wraith started to explain.

"Are you telling me that over a hundred hunter drones couldn't defeat one female mage?" Dragaunus yelled. "A mage who's feather you used to make sure the drones only went after her?"

"It was more than that, sire," Wraith hastily continued. "Those cursed ducks showed up and started destroying the drones."

"So the reason you're not presenting me with this mage's head is because of Wildwing and his team?" Dragaunus demanded.

"No, my lord," Wraith stated with dread. "The plan was doomed from the start because of the Phoenix."

* * *

She stumbled along the dark tunnel, though it was really more of a moving bubble through the dirt, rocks and roots. She was beyond exhausted and she just wanted to fall down and sleep for a week. However, she needed to get back to her hotel room before she could do that.

The salamander didn't like being underground and it was taking its stress out on eating the pine cone she had picked up. She was going to have to find it something else to eat soon. On the plus side, the little Elemental was at least giving her light to walk by even if it wasn't much.

She wasn't sure how long she had been underground, but it was starting to feel like forever. She just wished she could be back home, back before the Saurians had ruined everyone's lives. But she knew that she could never go home again and with a heavy heart, she kept moving.

When a wave of cool air hit her in the beak, it took her a moment to realize that they had finally reached the park entrance. With a sigh of relief, she stepped out into the cool night air. The sun wouldn't be up for a couple more hours, but the moon was nearing the horizon. As the hole in the hillside closed, she realized that she wasn't as close to the park exit as she had hoped to be. At least the Mighty Ducks and the Saurians were nowhere to be seen and she was well past the river. She stepped onto the path and started to head for the park exit only to stop dead in her tracks.

She hadn't seen him get on the path, but when you get to be as old and powerful as this Elemental, people only saw you if you wanted them to. This mighty Forest Lord definitely wanted her to see him. She tried not to stare, but he was magnificent.

She didn't know how big deer got on this planet, but she was fairly sure it wasn't _this_ big. She only came up to his shoulder and his rack of antlers were so large, no mortal animal would be able to hold his head up. He was pure white and he glowed. She was completely mesmerized by him.

_You have woken me from my slumber, little one,_ He said in a voice that wasn't heard by ears.

The salamander gave a startled hiss and then saw who had spoken. With a spark of fear, it immediately skittered up her arm and hid under her hair. She couldn't say that she blamed it as it started to tremble.

"I am sorry, mighty one," she barely whispered, finally managing to look away. "It was not my intent to disturb you."

_It has been so long since one with magic in their soul has been here,_ He stated. _But you don't belong here._

"No, I don't," she agreed. "When I came here, it was not my intent to stay long. I'm now stuck here with no way to get home."

He came closer to her until his nose nearly touched the exposed feathers on her chest. She barely dared to breathe. She could feel his power washing over her. As much as she needed a boost, he had not given the power to her, so she did not dare touch it.

_You carry one of us within you,_ He stated unhappily.

"I was not the one who trapped her," she hastily told him. "She chose me to carry her."

_And now that you have her, what are your intentions?_ He asked as he loomed over her.

"I don't know," she answered. "None have survived being partnered with her. I'm afraid."

_As well you should be,_ He growled as he slowly walked around her. _A Power that old does not handle prison well. She is very angry and her wrath has been riled. She is what woke me. How is it that she is still a prisoner after all this time?_

"The spell that trapped her is worked in such a way that only someone who can control her can finally release her," she explained while the giant white stag continued to walk behind her. "No one has been able to do that."

_And you think you can?_ He questioned.

"No," she answered sadly. "All I can hope for is to make my death meaningful."

_So you have resigned yourself to death,_ He stated. _Then you are already dead._

"How can I possibly hope to control her?" she inquired a bit heatedly.

_You find something to live for,_ He answered.

"My family and friends are either dead or on another planet. I'll never see them again," she pointed out hopelessly. "I will never find love."

_Are you so sure?_ He asked, sounding amused. _Do you really think love is beyond you?_

"The Saurian wizards made sure of it," she bitterly spat out. "The curse they put on the mages made sure we would always be alone."

The stag said nothing to this as he continued to slowly walk around her. She was so tired, physically, emotionally and spiritually. She had no hope, just duty to live for. She hadn't even realized that she was crying until a warm, wet tongue licked her cheek. She started, shocked that he would touch her.

_Do not despair, little one,_ He comforted. _The wizards are not as powerful as they think they are and curses can be broken._

He licked her other cheek and then continued walking around her. He surprised her again by gently touching the back of her neck with his soft muzzle. The salamander immediately ran down her front and hid in her bra. His amused chuckling filled her mind.

_What are your plans for that one? _He questioned.

"I'm not sure," she replied as she tried not to squirm when the little Elemental found a sensitive spot. "You wouldn't know of any erupting volcanoes, would you?"

_None that you could safely or easily get to,_ He replied as he passed in front of her again.

"I'm not sure what I can do with it," she admitted.

_Him, _He told her as he continued to walk. _You created a him._

"I didn't mean to," she stated.

_It does not matter whether you meant to or not, he is here and he is your responsibility,_ He retorted and she could feel his hot breath moving her hair. _Throwing him into a volcano will consign him to death._

"Oh, I didn't know," she said in a small voice.

_At least you only created a salamander,_ He said. _They are the smallest of my fiery brethren._

"But doesn't he need fire to survive?" she asked.

_No, it just makes it easier for them to hide,_ he told her as he stopped in front of her.

Belatedly, she realized what he had been doing. She doubted she could have stopped him if she had realized what he was doing sooner. He had circled her three times and licked her tears.

"Why have you bound me to you?" she questioned as scared as the trembling salamander in her bra.

_Better me than some others,_ he told her as he knelt down. _We will not discuss this now. Get on. I will take you back to the place you have claimed as your own._

She couldn't have argued with him if she had wanted to. With a sigh of resignation, she climbed onto his back. The salamander immediately made a beeline for the top of her head.

_Hold on,_ He warned as he got to his feet.

She tightened her legs around his chest and grabbed the sides of his neck, being careful not to dig her fingers in. Her body buzzed with all of the energy he produced and she swallowed her nervousness. She felt his muscles bunching underneath her and she tightened her hold.

He gave a mighty leap, going higher and farther than any mortal animal could go. He landed by the gate to the park and she saw him briefly put his ears back. Before she could fully process that movement, they were in the air again.

Houses passed underneath them as they soared by. A brief landing in someone's yard and then they were off again, leaving behind not so much as a hoof print. Leap after leap they made.

As they got closer to downtown and places of open ground became fewer and fewer, he started landing on the tops of trees. The branches barely even bowed under their weight and only a few leaves shook loose when they leaped away.

She didn't ask how he found the motel she was staying at. What be the point? He was a magical being and could do almost anything he wanted.

They landed in a small strip of plants next to the parking lot. He knelt down again and she climbed off of his back. Her shaky legs barely held her, but she managed to stay up.

_When you are fully rested and fed and your energy is restored, you will return to me,_ He ordered.

With that dictate given, he leaped away without a backwards glance.


	14. Recouping

Ruby slowly made her way to her room, thankful it was on the ground floor. She ignored the salamander that was sitting on her beak and letting her know exactly what he thought about the whole Forest Lord experience. He might not be able to form words yet, but he was plenty able to get his feelings across.

After fumbling around in her bag to get the key out, she opened the door and managed to get in without falling flat on her beak. She put the Do Not Disturb sign on the outside handle and then made sure the door was completely closed. She dropped her bag on the bed as she staggered into the bathroom and turned on the light. She gasped so hard it hurt.

She was a mess. Her hair was filled with leaves, twigs, pine needles and dirt and looked like it had been through a wind tunnel. Her feathers weren't in much better condition.

Her shirt was ruined. She wondered if she was going to have to cannibalize her dress to make herself some fire proof tops. Too bad she had lost her cloak since it was a heavier weave of spider silk. At least her bra was ok since she hadn't changed that when she got out of the dress. With great dread, she took the shirt off and tossed it in the trash.

_She_ had grown since last Ruby looked. She had been warned that would happen the more she used the fire within her. When she had joined with this being, the figure on her chest was no bigger than the palm of her hand, now this Elemental was as large as her entire hand.

The salamander crawled down her front to investigate. The figure suddenly moved and snapped at him and he quickly retreated to the safety of her shoulder. He then turned and hissed at the trapped figure.

She took a good long look at her prisoner. A stylized bird with a long neck, a wicked looking beak, her wings stretched to the sky as she emerged from the flames all a golden red against her dark red feathers. Here was her prisoner and her executioner: The Phoenix.

With a tired sigh, she plucked the salamander off of her shoulder and put him in the sink. He wasn't particularly enamored with the idea if the sparks coming out of the basin were any indication. She ignored him as she started to pluck the twigs, leaves and pine needles out of her hair and then dropped them into the sink. He settled down when he realized he was getting food.

Once the detritus was out her tresses, the mage stripped and showered. She felt only slightly better when she was done. After drying off, she checked on her little charge and found him hiding under a dead leaf. He wasn't happy about all the moisture in the air.

The salamander hissed at her and she couldn't help but smile at him. He had spunk. He also had the ability to burn holes in the furniture.

Ruby went back out to the bedroom. She found her dress and then moved the bags off of the bed. She pulled back the covers and spread the dress out on half the bed.

She retrieved the salamander who had just managed to get to the top of the sink. She put him and the left over leaf litter on the dress and made it clear he had to stay on the dress. He seemed a bit put out by it, but he did stay put. She turned out the lights and crawled into the bed next to the dress. She got comfortable and then did one last check on her little charge.

The baby Elemental was pacing along the edge of the dress closest to her. Ruby put her hand down next to him and he immediately scampered up her arm. She smiled as he crawled onto her cheek and then curled up. With one last tired sigh, she closed her eyes and gladly gave into sleep.

* * *

The pressing need of her bladder and her grumbling belly were what finally woke Ruby. It had nothing to do with the salamander dancing on her head. She took a clumsy swat at the little pest before she rolled out of bed.

She hurt. Everything hurt. Even her feathers hurt.

With a groan, Ruby staggered off to the bathroom. When she stumbled back into the bedroom a while later, the salamander was sitting on her dress glaring at her. She stood there, looking back at him in confusion. Something was off about the little critter. It finally dawned on her that the salamander had grown during the night.

She put her hand out to him and he just glanced at it before glaring at her again. After a minute it became apparent he was not going to cooperate. She considered just grabbing the little beast. But common sense made an appearance and reminded her that despite his size, he was still an Elemental.

Deciding it wasn't worth finding out how fire proof she really was, she went through her bags to find some clothes. She only had a couple outfits that were clean, so she went with the mini dress. She was going to have to go shopping again.

She still had a lot of money, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. She was either going to have to sell more of her belt or get a job. She was most certainly going to have to find a better place to live.

Those were going to have to wait. Right at that moment Ruby had more immediate concerns. The most important was what to do with the salamander. She worried about leaving him alone for fear that he would get bored or hungry and start damaging things. However, taking him with her was going to be a problem too.

When she had gone shopping-had it really only been yesterday?-she had seen plenty of people with dogs, a couple ferrets and one cat, but no one was walking around with a flaming amphibian. Bringing him was going to cause more problems than she cared to think about, but leaving him wasn't an option either.

"I need food," she muttered as she rubbed her face, trying to wake up a bit more.

That got his attention. So that was why he was so cranky. He was hungry. However, she wasn't sure what to do.

She picked up the messenger bag and pulled out The Mask, the map and the money. She didn't want to spend the time and energy to unweave part of her dress, but she really had no choice.

By the time Ruby was done, she was ready to start chewing on the furniture. Her dress was now a bit shorter and the bag had a nice fire proof lining in it. There was also a pocket between the lining and the bag for her to put her things in

After combing her hair out and brushing her teeth, she put The Mask in one of the dresser drawers and magically sealed it. She put her things in the pocket and then turned to the salamander. It took some convincing, but she finally got him in there. If women could walk around with those barking puff balls in their purses, why couldn't she walk around with a magical creature in hers? With that conviction, she stepped into the late afternoon sunshine and went in search of food.

* * *

Well, that had been a learning experience. With a great deal of care, Ruby put the bag down on top of her dress. She would have rather have flung it into the ocean, but she doubted the Forest Lord would have been too happy with her.

She had worked in a duckling care facility. She had been studying to become a teacher. She had seen and read about almost every misbehavior know to duck kind in the two years of working and studying.

Today, she had seen them all displayed plus a few more within a few hours thanks to an impatient little beast who hadn't wanted to stay in the bag. Ruby had perfected her concealment and retrieval spells every time the little bugger had managed to escape. She was going to have to replace her maps. Lesson learned: Feed the Elemental before feeding herself.

Fortunately, slightly singed money spent just as well as whole. She pulled the remaining paper money out of her bra before sitting down at the desk. Her food was a bit cold, but it was still edible.

Ruby dug into her dinner with gusto. She was starved and filling the empty hole in her middle became her sole focus. She was so intent on her food that she didn't notice movement on the bed.

She nearly jumped out of her feathers as she let out a startled yelp when something crawled up her leg. It took a second for her to realize the salamander wanted in her lap. After Ruby convinced her heart and lungs to work properly again, she looked over at the bed and floor, checking for fire damage. She didn't see any scorch marks, which was a relief.

Ruby carefully picked up the Salamander. She couldn't help but be amazed that something that had been just slightly larger than her thumb the night before was now longer than her hand.

How fast would he grow? How big would he get? The Forest Lord said he was the smallest of the fire Elementals, but that didn't tell her anything.

While she tried to figure out where to put him, he ran up her arm and curled along the back of her neck. Ruby immediately reached for him, afraid that he would damage her new dress. She was fond of this dress. It was the one that left had Wildwing speechless.

He scooted up under the hairline and settled down. She stopped and waited. When it appeared that he was going to stay put, she slowly lowered her arm. She went back to eating, though without the mindless ferocity of before.

As the warmth from the small fire Elemental started to soak into her tight muscles, she started to get drowsy. She slowly finished her dinner. When she was done, she decided that there was no point to fighting the fatigue. Ruby barely managed to get her clothes off and nicely hung before crawling back into bed. Sleep claimed her in moments.

* * *

Short of the Raptor landing in the middle of the rink, Wildwing didn't think practice could have gone any worse. They were all off their game. In under 48 hours they had had their tails handed to them multiple times, by a single duck no less.

Dragaunus had never managed to do in a year what she had done in less than two days. How could this one duck have done it? Ok, granted, Dragaunus's goons weren't the brightest bulbs in the box.

But how did that pretty slip of a female manage to keep one step ahead of them? Pretty? Did he just think she was pretty?

NO! Absolutely not!

With a frown on his face, the team captain wandered into the rec room. Duke and Mallory were off to one side playing checkers while Grin and Nosedive were watching cartoons. Tanya was in the corner working on something that gave him hope.

"How's it going, Tanya?" Wildwing asked as he stepped up to his tech.

"Ok, I guess," she replied with a shrug. "I've made the casing and got the wiring and circuitry in place."

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "What's left to be done?"

"The power source," she answered, disheartened. "I can't figure out how to power it. This thing takes, you know, a lot of energy."

"How was the original mask powered?" he questioned.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I was never able to figure that out."

"HEY!" Nosedive yelled. "I was watching that!"

Wildwing could see that the TV was now on an all news station and Mallory was holding the remote.

"No, you were killing your braincells," she retorted. "You don't have enough to spare."

"That stuff'll rot your brains," Duke agreed as the news came back from a commercial break.

"Welcome back! We all know and love our Mighty Ducks," the news caster started and the ducks all perked up a bit at those words, "but it seems there's a new duck in town..."

A picture of Ruby wearing her long dress, shopping bags in hand appeared on the screen.

"...and apparently, she's here to go shopping."

The next shot left the males with their jaws hanging open and the females rolling their eyes. She was wearing a mini dress and heels. Her black hair was loose and flowed down to her waist. Her legs seemed to go on for miles.

"We don't know who she is yet or if she'll be joining our team to play hockey. Calls to the Mighty Ducks home office have not been returned. We'll keep you updated as soon as we learn more. In other news..."

The screen went blank and the males still didn't move.

"BLINK!" Mallory shouted, snapping them out of their stupors.

"That was a nice dress she was wearing," Duke managed to say, his voice only slightly cracking.

"You'd think you'd never seen legs before," Mallory grumbled. "Her fashion sense is terrible. Her bag didn't match her shoes."

"Wasn't that the bag she had last night?" Nosedive finally managed to ask. "You know, the one she put the mask in?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it was," Duke confirmed.

"Tanya, see if you can get hold of that picture," Wildwing instructed. "Maybe we can get some clues from the background. It might tell us where she is."

"I'm on it," Tanya replied.

She got up and headed over to a nearby computer terminal. The others crowded behind her as she worked. In about a minute, Tanya had the picture.

Wildwing tried not to look at the duck in the picture. He really did. Did she really have to have legs like _that_?

"Mother of ducks, she looks good," Duke mumbled.

"Who cares what her bag looks like," Nosedive mutters.

"Do you two _mind_?" Mallory growled.

"Well, that didn't take long," Tanya stated.

"What did you find?" Wildwing asked, eager for a distraction from those legs.

"This," Tanya answered as she enlarged a section of the photo.

"Hey! That's Captain Comics!" Nosedive exclaimed when he recognized the back of the giant animated figure of his favorite shop.

"So, we know she's still in the area," Wildwing said.

"But the question is where," Mallory pointed out. "She can't be living at the mall. So where is she staying?"

"What about a hotel?" Duke suggested.

"There's only about a million hotel rooms in Anaheim," Mallory stated. "Want to try knocking on all of them? Klegghorn would love that."

"Becket Construction," Wildwing suddenly blurted out and everyone turned to stare at him.

"Come again?" Duke asked several seconds later.

"Bro, do you think she's going to build a house?" Nosedive questioned.

"Raleigh Becket was one of the humans who found Ruby at the side of the river," Wildwing explained. "He was the one who was following us around at the mall. He gave her his card before he left. Maybe she's staying with him and his family."

"Give me a minute," Tanya said as she started typing again. "Ok, I've got it. I don't think she's, you know, staying with them though."

"Why not?" Wildwing inquired.

"Because they live in Long Beach," Tanya answered. "It's not too far away, but it's not that close to the Anaheim Mall."

"She is weary," Grin suddenly stated.

"How do you figure that?" Duke asked.

"Her eyes," Grin answered. "She's tired."

The others turned their attention back to the computer screen. Tanya enlarged the image of her face. Sure enough, they could see the exhaustion there. Wildwing frowned.

Why did he just feel a pang of sympathy for her?

* * *

Canard woke slowly. It felt like his brain was trying to swim through ice water. When he finally managed to drag his eyes open despite the lids feeling like they were lined with lead, he could see a ball of dim light floating on the other side of the room. That's when he groaned. He was still at Twin Beaks.

"Oh! You're awake!" a young female voice chirped in surprise. "I'll be right back."

He wanted to tell her not to bother coming back, but she was gone and his beak felt like it had been packed with cotton. He tried to sit up or move or something, but he couldn't. It felt like he had a million pound blanket covering him.

"It's about time you woke up," an older female voice harrumphed. "I have better things to do than wait for you to get your act in gear."

He tried to glare at the middle aged duck that was built like a tank. Even without the blue beak she wasn't a good looking lady. Intimidating, yes, but pretty? Not even in her younger days.

"Don't give me that look, boy," she snapped as her eyes started to glow.

He clenched his beak shut, waiting for her attack. Suddenly, the feeling of being held down was gone. He sat up and nearly fell out of the bed. She caught him and pushed him back. He tried to move away from her, but the bed wasn't very big and it was against the wall.

"Settle down," she grumbled as she took a seat next to his bed. "I need to check to make sure that nothing more serious than you being knocked for a loop happened."

She asked him a series of questions about his name and hatching day and other trivial things. While she did that, she ran her hands over his wings, legs, torso and head, not quite touching him in the process. When she was done with her exam she nodded and headed for the exit.

"You should rest for another day and then you can get up," she told him. "If I find out that you're wandering around before then, I'll bind you to that bed again. The girl will be back with your food shortly."

With that, the older duck left before he could ask her any questions. He stared at the stone walls and ceiling. He tried to think back to the last thing he could remember.

They had opened the portal and Ruby had gone through. She had been gone a couple minutes when everything went blank. Why couldn't he remember?

"Dinner was a couple hours ago, so I brought you what I could find in the kitchen," the young female stated as she came back in the room.

She was a pretty little thing with big blue eyes and reddish blond hair. There was a spattering of small dark feathers across her creamy face. Except for the blue beak, she was very pretty.

"I don't remember seeing you before," he croaked and then he tried to moisten his mouth.

"Here," she offered as she shyly held out a cup to him. "I'm usually in the library."

He carefully took it from her, making sure not to touch her. Ruby had assured him that merely touching a mage wouldn't turn him into one, but old fears died the hardest. She put the plate on the table next to the bed, picked up the chair and took it across the room. He could see he had hurt her feelings and he felt kind of bad about that.

"You got a name?" he asked gruffly after he had drained the cup.

"Emily," she said softly.

"What happened?" he asked as he picked up the plate. "Where's Ruby?"

"If she's alive, she's wherever the portal went to," she answered quietly.

"What do you mean, 'if she's alive'?" he demanded as he took a bite of fruit.

"Those who could see through the portal, saw her heading back," she told him, her voice still just barely above a whisper. "You're team was chasing after her, but then one of them threw something through the portal and it exploded. The backlash hit you the hardest and you've been out for a couple days now."

"How come I got it the worst?" he questioned heatedly and she seemed to shrink down. "I was the farthest away."

"The magic protects us," she said so softly that he almost didn't hear her.

He worked on eating his food since talking to her only seemed to frighten her. It was their usual fair. Mostly veggies, fruit and some goat cheese, no flat bread though. There was also no meat either, but meat was a rare treat. Chances were that if there had been any at dinner, it was all eaten by the time dinner was over.

"When can I leave?" he finally asked.

Now that he had had something to eat, he wasn't feeling like he wanted to rip someone's head off. Though he still wasn't happy.

"Elder Blanche said you can get out of bed tomorrow," she answered, still not looking at him.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, trying not to growl. "When can I go home? When can I leave Twin Beaks?"

He didn't think it was possible for her to get any smaller, but she did. He frowned at her. She was a mage, someone who could use unimaginable powers and she was acting like a scared little mouse.

"You can't, Canard," she barely whispered. "Because you broke your promise, until The Mask is returned, you are bound to the Tomb of Drake DuCaine."


	15. What's Going on?

It had taken four days for Ruby to feel fully recovered. Four days of just eating, sleeping and taking care of an ever growing salamander, with shopping and listening to music thrown in on the side. Some of the things humans considered music, well, the less said about that the better.

Today wasn't a day of rest though. She woke up a few hours before and felt the pull of the bond between her and the Forest Lord. Today she was going to see what He wanted from her.

The sun wasn't quite up yet, which meant that there weren't a lot of people on the trails yet. That was fine with her. Fewer people meant fewer people having the chance of taking her picture and having it end up on the evening news. At least the Mighty Ducks hadn't taken the publicity as an opportunity to turn the humans against her. They had, in fact, remained blissfully silent on the matter.

The salamander came bounding down the trail toward her, ran up the mage's leg and climbed into her messenger bag. It still amazed her that something that had started out about the size of her thumb was now almost as long as her arm. She knew he wasn't tired yet, so that meant another human was headed in their direction. Ruby hoped this one didn't want to get chatty like the last one.

"You better not have been spotted again," she quietly growled.

_No spot,_ he replied.

"We'll see about that," she grumbled.

The man came jogging around the turn in the path. Like the other humans, he was surprised to see her. She smiled and kept a pleasant look on her face. He smiled back, nodded a greeting and continued on.

_See?_ he said smugly. _No spot._

A second later he was out of the bag and off exploring again. It had taken the second day together for Ruby to figure out that he needed exercise. The trick was finding someplace he could explore that he wouldn't accidentally set on fire and he wouldn't be seen. When the fire Elemental concentrated, he could keep his fire from singeing anything. However, his concentration wasn't so good when he explored.

Her only rules were to stay away from anything that could burn and not to be seen. That last one was proving to be a bit tricky this morning. Fortunately, he did have the sense to stay on the path, so he hadn't set anything on fire so far.

A barking dog preceded his reappearance. It was amazing how fast the little bugger could go on those stubby little legs. In a heartbeat, he was back in the bag.

"So much for not being spotted," she mumbled.

_Mean woof-woof,_ he grumbled.

A few moments later a large dog came down the path dragging his owner along. The woman wasn't very big and didn't stand a chance against the hairy brute. Ruby moved to the side of the path to let them pass, but the dog had other ideas.

He lunged for Ruby, trying to get to her bag. Luckily, the magic protected her and the bag from those sharp teeth. She gave the owner a displeased look, but said nothing. The woman tried to control her dog while she apologized. When it became apparent that the woman wasn't going to be able to drag the mutt away, Ruby asked the air spirits for help.

A few moments later, the dog had a nose full of pollen and dust. The dog let out a series of sneezes that stopped him from dragging his owner after them. The woman finally managed to pull the canine away and Ruby was able to continue her trek into the hills.

All too soon she was at the bridge and there she faced her first real problem. Not that the bridge was the problem. It was what the bridge went over that was the issue.

The river was almost white from the froth as water spirits took notice of their presence. The salamander wasn't too thrilled with the situation either. The water was starting to hit the bottom of the bridge and she knew that the longer she waited the worse it would become. She worried that a water Elemental would come investigate and then things would not be good.

Ruby stepped onto the bridge and the water spirits were _not_ happy. She got a few steps across when she realized the salamander wasn't following her. He was terrified and she knew there would be no convincing him to cross the bridge.

She calmly walked back, scooped him up, turned and ran across the bridge. She got to the other side just as a wave crashed over the bridge. She let go of the now squirming, sparking and hissing salamander.

"Don't set anything on fire or I'll set the Forest Lord on you," she called as the salamander took off.

She stepped off the path and headed toward the area between the cliff and the river. The river was still unhappy about her being there and she could see faces in the water. There was no way she could do a quick dash to safer ground. It was too far and the ground was too uneven.

Ruby looked up the cliff. It had looked a lot steeper in the dark, thankfully. She wasn't the best free rock climber, but she was pretty sure she could get up this without falling into the water. She took a drink from her water bottle before putting it into her empty bag.

She started climbing and was very thankful that she had managed to get to a sporting goods store and got hiking boots for this little adventure. By the time she made it to the top, she was a bit tired and she could feel sweat dripping down her back. This dark red duck was going to be sore in the morning.

Just as her head cleared the top of the cliff, she came nose to beak with the salamander. He was making short work of a pine cone as he glared at her. Ruby hadn't seen him climb up the cliff and she had been watching for him.

"How did you get up here so quick?" she asked as she finished climbing up.

_Short way,_ he stated.

She got to her feet and brushed herself off. It figured the little brat had found a short cut and hadn't told her. She left him to his pine cone as she walked through the trees to the clearing. _He_ was standing there.

"I'm here," she stated as neutrally as possible.

Ruby wanted to tell Him off for binding her to Him. To have an Elemental joined with her was bad enough, but to have to raise another one and then have yet another bind her to him was really pushing her patience. However, he was old and powerful and ticking him off would not be good for her continued good health.

_Good, _He said. _You will make this meadow as it once was._

The white stag turned and leaped away before she could argue or ask for clarification. She stepped out of the shadow of the trees and took a good look around.

"Oh boy," she groaned as she saw the destruction she wrought.

* * *

Wildwing grabbed several bottles of water out of the fridge and threw them in the sack with the food he had prepared. He had enough food and water for at least two, but he didn't care. He had a restless energy that he had to get out. The team was having a bad enough time from losing the mask and the game the other night. They didn't need their captain flipping out on them too.

He grabbed the bag of food and headed for the garage. Wildwing placed the sack in the storage under the seat of a Duckcycle and then grabbed a helmet. He didn't even wonder why he grabbed a second helmet and stored it with the food.

The others weren't up yet, so he wasn't worried about anyone stopping him or wanting to go with him. He needed time and space to himself to think. Wildwing had at least the presence of mind to leave them a note so they wouldn't worry and come looking for him.

A few minutes later he was out on the road, enjoying the feeling of the cool morning air. The large white duck headed toward the ocean to see if the sound of the waves would help him figure things out. He spent a couple hours there, but all he got for his time was writer's cramp from signing autographs and a need to visit the bathroom.

Wildwing got back on the bike and headed to the mountains. He hoped for fewer people as he rode through the winding roads. It was hard to think when people were taking pictures of you.

He wasn't sure why he decided to go to visit the meadow. Maybe he hoped it would give him inspiration. What he got, he couldn't have dreamed of in a million years.

* * *

With a grunt, the only normal duck at Twin Beaks brought the axe down and split the wood neatly in two. He had gotten really good at splitting wood over the past couple days. It was a good way to vent off his anger and frustration.

Ever since Ruby had gone through the portal and it had blown up, he had been stuck there. That stupid promise bound him to the tomb until the mask was returned. Which pretty much meant he would probably be stuck there for the rest of his life.

Canard tossed the two pieces of firewood into the growing pile and put another large chunk of wood on the chopping block.

Forty-nine mages were needed to open the portal. A portal that could be used to retrieve the mask, maybe retrieve Ruby and set him free. Forty-nine mages were needed and there were only forty-eight on all of Puckworld.

He took a swing at the wood and the blade deeply bit into it.

Only one more mage was needed! That was it! Just one!

He lifted the axe over his head with the wood still stuck on it. With another grunt, Canard brought them down with all his might and the wood cleanly split in two. He was tired and sore, but he still had plenty of frustration to work out.

"Canard?" a timid voice called from behind him.

They were learning. Any other mage who sneaked up behind him would have had to dodge the axe. Canard knew he couldn't hurt them, so he had no problem taking a swing at the more obnoxious ducks.

However, this sweet, timid girl didn't deserve his anger. The other mages pushed her around and she let them. It bugged him to no end.

Emily was too nice for her own good and never stood up for herself. She had told him that she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Instead, they had no respect for her.

"Yeah?" he softly replied.

Canard had learned the hard way that being loud and abrasive around her would scare her and make her go running off. He talked quietly and moved slowly when she was with him. He had met rabbits that were braver than her.

"I brought you some food," she told him.

It was the excuse Emily used every time she wanted to get away from the others. That was fine with him. Her company he could tolerate.

"Great! Thanks!" Canard said as he carefully put the axe down. "I'm starved."

Canard hadn't lied. Splitting wood was a great way to build up an appetite. The look the pretty mage had given him the one time he had lied to her had left him feeling lower than dirt. Kicked puppies didn't look that pathetic.

The sweaty duck picked up his shirt and put it back on before turning around. It seemed she got flustered when he left it off. Amusing as that was, it usually meant she left in a hurry.

"Here," she said as she held out a plate of food.

Vegetables and unleavened bread again with some fish. The veggies and bread were normal, the fish was a bonus. Someone must have had a good fishing trip for him to get any. That or Emily sneaked some for him. She'd been known to do that on occasion.

It had taken him a bit to get used to their diet. Burgers, pizza, tacos, foods Canard thought were the staples of life, weren't served at Twin Beaks. If they couldn't make it, catch it or grow it themselves, they did without.

"Thank you," he responded as he took the plate.

Their fingers touched for a second as the plate was passed. The dish smashed to the ground as Canard jumped back when a spark of light went from her fingers and hit him in the chest. He glared at her for several seconds as Emily stood there with a stunned look on her face.

"What did you do?" he demanded loudly.

A look of absolute terror passed over her face before she bolted back inside. Canard chased after her, determined to get an answer. He had thought Emily was different and just when he let his guard down, she pulled some magic stunt.

She turned a corner with him two steps behind her. Unfortunately for him, it was two steps too many. He slammed into a stone wall that shouldn't have been there. Angry beyond words, Canard yelled and pounded on the barrier.

"What's going on?" someone demanded.

Great. Of all mages to show up, it had to be the reigning king of self important jerks. Keith was Canard's _least_ favorite duck.

Keith was a horrible hockey player and any talent he may have had came from his powers. He was also the one who picked on Emily the most. Canard wouldn't mind flattening the guy at any other time, but right then his anger was aimed at a pretty little duck who had tricked him.

"Emily cast some sort of spell on me," Canard growled as he gave the wall one last slap.

"Emily?" Keith snorted in disbelief. "That timid little bird? She's too afraid of her own shadow to do anything more powerful than cast a light spell. Whatever she did, won't do much."

"Well, she did something," Canard snapped as he rubbed his chest as another mage came toward them. "Whatever it was, hit me in the chest and now my heart feels weird."

"Please describe exactly what happened," Elder Ross requested.

Of the seven Elders, Ross was the least maddening of them. The older duck only came up to Canard's beak and had a bit of middle age spread, but he was not one to mess with. Canard told him what happened, barely aware of the growing crowd around them. By the time Canard was done talking, Ross had a frown on his face.

"Come with me," Ross ordered Canard before turning to the others. "I'm sure the rest of you have duties elsewhere."

The crowd quickly dispersed, including Keith. One didn't become an Elder just because of age. One became an Elder because of Power. No one in their right mind blatantly disobeyed an Elder.

Ross turned to the wall and tapped it once. The stone moved out of the way, clearing the corridor. Ross walked through and Canard followed.

After a few turns through the underground passages, Canard knew where they were headed, though he didn't know why. He wanted answers from Emily and no one else.

Why did she do it? Was it because he was the only one who couldn't retaliate? Had this all been a sick game for her?

They stepped into the library and the place still amazed him. The ceiling was at least thirty feet above them and every inch of wall was covered in book cases with rolling ladders to allow one to get to the upper shelves. Even the area above the door had book cases above it. The cavern was at least three times as wide and four times as long as it was high and most of the floor space was taken with book cases that reached the ceiling. In the few areas that weren't occupied with bookcases, there were long tables with chairs around them for ducks to study at, but no one was there now. Canard knew a few book worms who would have been in heaven here.

"What brings you to my corner of the mountain, Ross?" the Librarian asked when they finally found him at his desk in the middle of the library.

"Something has happened between Emily and Canard and I'd like your opinion on it, George," Ross replied before he turned to Canard. "Canard, please tell him what you told me.

Canard repeated his tale, still not happy. By the time he was done, both Ross and George were frowning. The two mages looked at each other for a moment.

"Could it be..." George mumbled to himself before looking off into empty space. "Find Emily and tell her that I wish to see her now."

Canard was used to the mages talking to thin air. The freaky part was that even though there was nothing there, they got results. Emily had mentioned something about spirits once, but he hadn't quite grasped what she was talking about. Where ghosts helping them?

A few minutes passed before Emily finally appeared. When she saw Canard, she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with fear. He could see she had been crying and he felt a bit bad about that. However, she had still done something to him and it was making his heart hurt.

"Emily, child, come here, please," George gently requested.

Emily looked like she'd rather face a firing squad, but she did go to the nearly ancient duck with the pot belly. Canard watched her closely as she shuffled across the floor. Her eyes were downcast and she was trembling.

"Emily, did you use magic on Canard?" George asked and she quickly shook her head 'no'. "Then please tell me what happened."

"I b-b-b-b-brought C-C-C-Canard his lunch," she stuttered softly, visibly becoming upset. "When I handed him his f-f-f-f-food, our f-f-f-fingers touched and that's when the sp-p-p-park jumped out and hit me in the chest."

"No, it hit me in the chest!" Canard forcefully insisted.

A single look from Ross silenced him instantly.

"Please tell Elder Blanche that I would like to see her at her earliest convenience," George requested of no one. "Please let her know that it is quite urgent."

For the first time, Canard felt a whisper of movement in the air. Confused and concerned, he looked around, trying to find the source. Was whatever she had done to him turning him into a mage?

"Canard, would you please take your shirt off," George requested as he stood and she let out a squeak.

Canard would have found it a bit amusing as she got all flustered if he hadn't been so upset with her. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and Emily started to fidget. He took his time taking his top off just to torment her.

"Yes, child, he is a fine specimen of a duck, but do try and control yourself," George said with amusement before turning back to Canard with a frown. "As for you, stop tormenting the girl. This isn't a peep show, just take the shirt off."

Canard got his shirt off and noticed Emily studiously staring at the floor. He tried not to smirk. All thoughts of the pretty duck left his head when the librarian's beak nearly came in contact with his chest.

"I don't see any physical damage and there's only a trace of magical residue," George mused.

"You wanted to see me?" Elder Blanche asked as she stepped into the library.

"Yes, please, tell me what you find on these two," George requested, indicating Canard and Emily. "Specifically around the heart area."

Blanche walked up to Canard first and held her hand in front of his chest. She frowned slightly and then did the same thing to Emily. When she was done, she was nearly scowling.

"There is an energy around both of their hearts," Blanche stated.

"Who's energy signature is it?" George questioned.

"That's the strange thing," Blanche grumbled. "It's a combination of the both of them."

George was across the library in the blink of an eye, which was pretty amazing considering his age. They could hear him mumbling to himself as he seemed to randomly pull books off of the shelves. A few minutes later, he came back, nearly staggering under the weight of the tomes.

He carefully placed them on a nearby table and started to spread them out. He opened a book, said a few words under his breath and then moved on to the next one. Pages of the books flipped on their own as he moved around the table.

He got back to the first book, frowned and mumbled something else. From one book to another he went. Some he rejected out right and others he set the pages to flipping again.

Finally, after more time than Canard thought he could patiently wait, George had three books left open. The rejected books sat neatly off to the side, waiting to be put back. Of the remaining tomes, George read a few pages of the first one, then the next and finally the last book. As he read, he got more and more excited.

"Ross, Blanche, please come look at this," George excitedly requested. "Please tell me I'm not mad."

The two Elders came over to the table and read the passages in the books.

"It's not possible..." Blanche started.

"The curse..." Ross continued.

"I know! I know!" George replied with excitement, picking up a book and holding it up to them. "But look at the wording. '...all the mages _on_ Puckworld...' Ruby isn't _on_ Puckworld anymore."

"You think she's..." Ross hesitantly questioned.

"I don't see why not," George gleefully told him. "There are other ducks there. It could have happened. It _must_ have happened."

"Excuse me," Canard interrupted, trying to keep a civil tongue in his beak. "Would someone please tell me what is going on?"


	16. The Meadow

Wildwing crept through the trees. When he had first heard her voice, he thought he was imagining things. As he had gotten closer, he saw her. Ruby was standing in the middle of the meadow with her back to him. She appeared to be arguing with herself.

Maybe she was arguing with the spirits. She could be fighting with her imaginary friend, for all he cared. As long as it kept her attention away from him and his goal, he just needed her to stay distracted for a little bit more.

"I need food and I need water!" she heatedly told the invisible person. "Without either, you'll be picking up my bones along with the metal scraps."

The stealthy duck didn't have much time if the tone of her voice was anything to go by. He was almost there, just a few short inches from his target. He didn't even dare breathe for fear of her turning around.

Her scream of frustration stopped him cold. Wildwing looked over at Ruby and saw that her back was still to him. Her head and shoulders slumped in defeat. He thought he heard her sniff.

"You can come out now," she said softly. "He's gone."

How did she know Wildwing was there? He had been very careful to make no noise and to stay behind her. There was no way that she could know that he was there.

He made a grab for her bag when a red form exploded out of it. He froze as the lizard type thing turned and hissed at him. It took the goalie a moment for his brain to accept the flames covering its body.

What the heck was that? It couldn't be the salamander from the other night. That creature hadn't been bigger than his thumb. This thing was at least as long as his hand and forearm combined.

"Great," she grumbled.

He shifted his gaze to her to see her glaring at him and his stomach dropped to the vicinity of his boots.

"As if my day wasn't bad enough. The Mask isn't here, Wildwing. Leave!"

Her eyes glowed briefly and Wildwing suddenly found himself trotting down the hill. He wasn't able to stop until he got back to the bike. He lifted the seat to get his helmet out. He was ready to leave Ruby, just like she wanted. Then what she had said finally registered in his brain.

"_I need food and I need water! Without either, you'll be picking up my bones along with the metal scraps."_

As he thought about it, she sounded more than just angry, but scared. Wildwing was tempted to just leave when he remembered what he had told his team the other night. If something happened to her, how would they get the mask back? Tanya wasn't making any headway with creating a feasible power supply for the new mask.

Blast her! What was it about this mage that made him want to get to know her one minute and wring her neck the next? Ever since that strange spark of light hit him in the chest, he hadn't been on his game. Whenever she was upset, his heart felt funny and Wildwing couldn't understand why.

He grabbed the bag of food out of the storage area and slammed the seat back down. With a frustrated growl, he marched back up the hill. He didn't care how many times she sent him away, Wildwing was going to get food and water in her if for no other reason than the make his heart stop feeling like it was in a vice grip.

As he got closer to the meadow, Wildwing slowed down and moved as stealthily as possible. There was no point in letting her know he was coming until he could offer her the food and water. While still a ways away, he stopped and watched.

The dark haired mage was on her hands and knees, digging through the dirt. Every once and a while, she'd hand something to the salamander and it would run over to a pile of twisted and burnt metal. It was a fair sized pile, but he had a feeling that there was a lot more still out there. There had been a lot of drones the other night.

The salamander spit out the small bit of metal in its mouth and then ran back to her. How long had she been working at this? The pile wasn't all that big, so probably not for long. However, Ruby had melted a lot of the drones, so maybe she hadn't gotten to the larger pieces yet. Maybe she couldn't move them on her own.

The Mighty Duck captain moved closer, as quietly as he could. When he got to the last of the trees, he heard a strange noise. He barely dared breathe, waiting to see if it would happen again. There it was.

Wildwing knew that sound too well. He watched her and a moment later she hastily wiped her cheeks with the back of her dirty hands. She was crying as quietly as possible, but he would have had to have been dead not to recognize it.

The squeeze on his heart tightened and it was hard for him to breathe. Why was she out here digging up the scraps of metal and crying? She didn't have food or water, so she wasn't prepared. Was Ruby being forced to do this? What could be powerful enough to make _her_ do its bidding? It couldn't be the salamander, it was hiding in her bag when she was arguing with whatever it was.

Another sniff brought him out of his thoughts. She took another swipe at a cheek and bent back to her digging. The hair that had escaped her ponytail was hanging down in her face, but she ignored it.

Another quiet sob and Wildwing couldn't take it any more. He pulled a bottle of water from his bag and boldly walked over to her. He hoped he wasn't making a really big mistake.

The salamander saw him first. It hissed and went running to her. She stared at the thing in confusion and that allowed him to get to her without being blasted. He thrust the bottle at her just as she turned to look at him.

"Here," he said gruffly and he waited for her to take the bottle.

Ruby stared at it with eyes dulled with exhaustion. He could see that the dirt had mixed with her tears, leaving muddy smears across her face. When she still didn't take the water, he opened it for her.

"Drink," he ordered.

She sat there in the dirt, just staring at the bottle. Just when he thought he was going to have to force her to drink, she reached out with a shaking hand. Wildwing let her take the bottle, but kept his hand up in case she needed help with it.

She spilled only a little water as she took a long pull. She finally lowered the bottle with a sigh of relief. The hand that seemed to be holding his heart in a death grip loosened a little.

"Thank you," Ruby whispered.

"You're welcome," he responded quietly. "What are you doing out here?"

"Cleaning up my mess," she answered just before taking another drink.

"Why you?" he asked. "Why aren't the earth spirits or whatever doing this?"

"They tried and all they did was make things worse," she replied. "Now I have to dig everything up."

"Well, why aren't they helping?" he questioned, a frown creasing his brow.

"Remember how I said that with me being here things might get interesting?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he hesitantly answered.

"I wasn't wrong," she stated with a sigh.

"What happened?" he asked as he squatted down to her level.

"I had a run in with an earth Elemental the night I retrieved The Mask," she told him while staring at the large chunk of metal she was working to uncover. "He decided that I needed to clean up the mess. I don't know why he won't let the earth spirits help. Maybe he's punishing me for making the mess in the first place. Maybe he thinks it's funny. Who can tell with Elementals?"

She took another drink and sighed. She carefully set the bottle down and went back to her digging. He put the cap back on the bottle for her.

"How long have you been out here?" he asked.

"Since about dawn," she answered, not looking at him.

"How'd you get here?" he questioned.

"Took a cab to the park entrance and then walked here," she replied.

"So you were dropped off at the front entrance down the hill, right?" he confirmed, having the strange feeling she wasn't. "The one that leads into the parking lot?"

"No," she denied. "There's no parking lot at the entrance I went through."

Wildwing frowned at that. He knew the entrance she was talking about. The only parking was along a residential street. Short of coming in on the eastern side of the park, he wasn't sure she could have given herself a longer hike.

"When was the last time you ate?" he softly inquired.

"Before I came out here," she whispered.

It kind of surprised him that she was being so cooperative. He had a feeling that dehydration, exhaustion and hunger had something to do with it. They probably had a _lot_ to do with it.

"Didn't you bring any supplies?" he asked, having a feeling he already knew the answer.

"I had a bottle of water," she responded while she exposed more of the twisted metal. "Finished it a few hours ago."

"Can you stop long enough to eat?" he inquired and she halted her digging and stared at him.

"The Mask...," she started.

"Isn't for sale," he finished. "I got that. This isn't about the mask. It's about you not falling flat on your beak."

"Why?" she asked several seconds later.

"Because it's the decent thing to do," he answered. "How about we forget about the mask for a while and concentrate on getting some food in you."

"I can't leave until the meadow is cleaned up," she informed him.

"Then it's a good thing I brought lunch," he replied as he stood up. "Let's get out of the sun so we don't become roasted ducks."

She slowly nodded her agreement and laboriously got to her feet. When she stumbled, Wildwing instinctively put his hand under her elbow to steady her. It startled Ruby probably more than it did him and he quickly took his hand away.

She gave him a small smile of thanks and he indicated toward the trees. She carefully made her way to a shady spot. She found a suitable place and slowly sank down. He handed her the bottle of water she left behind before opening his bag.

"My hands are filthy," she mumbled when he tried to hand her a sandwich.

"You can wash them off in the...," he started until he noticed that there was a problem. "What happened to the waterfall?"

"I think some of the metal ended up the hill and is blocking the water," she told him.

"Ok, then it's a good thing I brought extra water," he said as he brought out a new bottle of water.

Ruby would have objected to wasting perfectly good drinking water, but she was too tired to think straight and she really didn't want to eat dirt. Wildwing poured the water while she cleaned off her hands. It took almost the entire bottle clean her hands and it was a big bottle. Luckily he had thought to bring napkins so she wasn't sitting there with wet feathers.

He found a spot to sit that wasn't close enough for them to accidentally touch, but close enough for him to hand her food. He handed her the extra sandwich again and she gladly took it. They ate in silence for a while until the salamander suddenly reappeared.

"That's not the same salamander from the other night, is it?" he asked as the creature crawled into her lap.

"It is," she confirmed after she finished chewing and swallowing.

"But it's so much bigger," he started.

"I know," she sighed as the Elemental rolled over onto its back. "It seems Elementals grow very quickly. I'm hoping he's almost fully grown. If he gets much bigger I'm going to need to get a larger bag."

"That explains why your bag didn't match your shoes," he blurted out and that got him a less than pleased look. "Mallory made that observation the other night when you made the news."

He quickly shut his beak before he put his other foot in it. They sat in silence for a while. She scratched the salamander's belly while she ate.

"I'm sorry you lost the game the other night," she said when the salamander was done getting its belly rubbed.

"You watched the game?" he asked in surprise.

"Of course I watched the game," she replied. "I like hockey as much as the next duck. Just because I don't play doesn't mean I can't watch and enjoy a good game."

"That game didn't qualify as good," he grumbled.

"Yeah, I noticed," she commiserated. "Though it was nice to watch a real game. The ones at Twin Beaks are less than civilized."

"How so?" he inquired.

"When mages play hockey, the spells are moving faster than the puck," she explained. "It's almost anything goes and it usually does. There are magical barriers as well as the normal ones to keep the spells from hitting any of the spectators."

"Doesn't sound really fair or fun," he muttered.

"It's horrifying at first," she admitted. "After a while you get used to it and then it gets amusing. I guess it's funnier if you actually played, but I was just one of the score keepers, so it was starting to get annoying. I feel sorry for Emily because now she has to score all of the games by herself."

"Is she not a good score keeper?" he inquired.

"She keeps score just fine," she replied. "But she's such a timid little thing that someone has to sit with her so none of the players can intimidate her."

"Tell me about Twin Beaks," he requested, relaxing against the tree. "I'm surprised no one ever discovered a village of mages out in the mountains."

"That's because there isn't a village or a town or even a city," she explained as she finished her lunch. "The Tomb of Drake DuCaine is located in the heart of the mountain. The mages live in the caverns surrounding the tomb.

"But why there?" he asked.

"Why not?" she countered with a shrug. "We needed to go somewhere and Twin Beaks was the most logical place. We were in charge of keeping The Mask safe until the Saurians returned. Drake DuCaine believed that it was just a matter of time before they broke out of their prison."

"So why wasn't the mask used once they returned?" he questioned.

"I asked the same question when I found out that The Mask was at Twin Beaks," she bitterly replied. "The answer boiled down to 'It's not our problem'. Too bad for them, I made it their problem."

She sounded very smug.

"The story you told Gipsy the other day, that wasn't just a story, was it?" he inquired while she took a drink.

"Very good," she responded as she saluted him with her bottle.

"Why are there so few mages?" he asked.

"Without the mages, Drake DuCaine would have never defeated the Saurians," she said staring at her lap. "In fact, the mages were the ones who opened the portal that sent the Saurians to their prison. When the Saurian overlords were captured and sentenced to the dimensional prison, the wizards cursed all of the mages of Puckworld. We can't have children. All of the mages who exist come from the regular population."

"You said that your home was destroyed when the Saurians attacked," he stated. "How is it that you became a mage and no one else in your family did?"

"You have to be in a life threatening situation before the magic comes to you," she told him.

"My team and I have been in dozens of life threatening situations," he pointed out.

"And yet, you're still here," she countered. "You have to be on the verge of actually dying."

"Your parents died in that attack," he said. "Why didn't they become mages? Heck, why wasn't Puckworld overrun with mages after Dragaunus showed up?"

"The magic doesn't take ducks against their will," she explained. "In a fraction of a second, you are given the choice. Accept the magic and become a mage or deny it and die. People are so poisoned against mages that they'd rather be dead than become one. Out of all those who were given the choice after Dragaunus started attacking, it seems I was the only one who said 'yes'."

"What made you say 'yes'?" he asked.

"I had just watched my parents die," she softly told him. "I couldn't watch my baby sister die, too. It just wasn't an option for me. If it was you and Nosedive, which would you chose?"

"I'd probably do the same," he admitted a few seconds later.

They sat in silence for a while as she finished her water. She was tired and so wanted to just lie down and take a nap. However, the pull to finish the job Ruby had started was getting harder and harder to ignore.

"Thank you for the food and water," she said as she got to her feet. "I need to get back to work."

She handed him the empty bottle and headed back out into the meadow.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** A strange place to leave it, but the scene is extremely long and this was the best place to break it up.


	17. Full Metal Salamander

The Saurian wizard paced back and forth. He had survived his lord's wrath by assuring the overlord that he would come up with another plan to be rid of the mage. While that allowed him to escape, it didn't mean he could just hide in his workroom forever. He had to come up with something and soon.

Wraith racked his brain to come up with any idea. As long as the mage had The Phoenix at her command, she was even more indestructible than any normal mage would be. A frontal assault would never work. He would have to come up with something that was subtle, something that Dragaunus could understand and would be willing to support. The overlord could do subtle if he put his mind to it, but more often than not, he preferred to be sneaky followed by the 'pound your enemy flat' method of dealing with a problem.

A plan involving being subtle that wouldn't set off her magical defenses wasn't going to be easy. It most certainly would leave Siege and Chameleon out of it. Those two were as subtle as an avalanche.

The wizard glared at the two remaining feathers in their protective bubbles. They would allow him find her general vicinity, but that wasn't necessary. She usually ended up on the evening news as the humans tried to figure out who she was and what she was doing there. No need to waste a feather on what the humans were doing for free.

The feathers could also allow him to get past some of her defenses, provided it wasn't something that would hurt her directly. Maybe something that would interfere with her sleep or caused her to see things that weren't there. Those plans were subtle, but required a good deal of power and were very complicated.

"There's a snake in my boot," voice proclaimed from the corridor.

Wraith groaned. Chameleon was playing with that stupid doll he had found the other day. The shape changer enjoyed pulling the string on the back of the foolish thing and making it play back one of several recorded messages. The wizard was sure Chameleon had been dropped on his head as a youngling. Repeatedly.

"Somebody's poisoned the waterhole," the recorded voice stated.

Wraith was about to go out and blast the smaller Saurian when he suddenly had an epiphany. He needed something subtle. The right type of poison could be very subtle.

* * *

Wildwing sat and watched her for a minute. She couldn't leave until the job was done and he couldn't just let her do the job alone. The question was whether or not to bring in the rest of the team.

The team captain mulled it over for a while. With the rest of the team there, and with proper equipment, they would get the job done in no time. However, with the rest of the team's animosity toward her, it was a disaster waiting to happen. In the end, he decided to leave the others out of it unless he had no other choice.

As Wildwing collected their garbage and put it back in his bag, he saw the salamander sitting nearby. The duck turned his attention to the creature and saw it glaring at him. The tip of its tail twitched impatiently, not unlike a dissatisfied cat.

Wildwing finished cleaning up and started to head back to his bike to put the bag away. However, his way was blocked by a hissing Elemental. When he tried to go around, the salamander moved with him. He even tried stepping over it and nearly got singed in an inopportune place for his trouble.

He marched back to the meadow with the salamander in hot pursuit. The large white duck stomped up to her and she looked up at him in surprise. He tried not to notice that even covered in dirt, she was pretty.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked.

"I was trying to take my bag back to my bike, but your pet decided I wasn't going anywhere," he fumed right before he jumped. "OW!"

Wildwing turned and glared at the little beast as he rubbed his backside.

"Ok, first off, he's not my pet," she stated, trying not to laugh and really trying not to stare at the well shaped posterior that was at eye level. "Secondly, I really can't control him. He's an Elemental. He does what he wants."

"So why is he hanging around with you?" he demanded. "He was hiding in your bag earlier."

"He's not old enough to take care of himself yet," she reminded him while she went back to her digging. "As far as I know, there are no other salamanders who are currently active. Even if there are, there's no guarantee that they'd want to raise him. As for him hiding in my bag, if I could have, I would have been in there with him. The earth Elemental is extremely old and very powerful and every time I see him I'm afraid I'm going to molt right on the spot."

"Was that who you were talking to earlier?" he asked as he tossed his bag next to hers.

"You didn't see him?" she questioned.

"You were talking to thin air as far as I could tell," he answered as he got down on his knees.

"Figures he decided to hide from you while we were talking," she grumbled. "He seems to get some sick thrill at driving me crazy. What are you doing?"

"Helping," he stated as he dug his hands into the dirt.

"You don't have to, even if the salamander is being a pain," she said as she continued to dig.

"I know," he replied. "I want to help. I'm the one who ordered the team out here and we did some damage to the drones, so it's partially my fault too. We may not have been able to do the damage you did, but it wasn't for lack of trying on our part."

"You _want_ to help?" she questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Ok, I don't really _want_ to bake in the sun digging in the dirt," he grumbled. "But I do feel partially responsible for the mess, so here I am."

"And the rest of the team?" she inquired, sounding a bit defensive.

"Back at the Pond or at the mall or wherever," he replied. "They don't know where I am, just that I wanted some time to think and that I'll be back tonight. I won't call them in unless we can't get this place cleaned up on our own. So, what exactly are we doing?"

"I'm trying to find the edge to this piece of metal," she sighed. "Once I find the edge, I can use my powers to bring it up."

He looked down into the hole she had created and saw a large slab of melted and twisted metal several inches under the dirt. It was hard to tell that this had once been dozens of hunter drones. There was very little that was recognizable.

"If you're looking for the edge, why not try closer to the side of the meadow?" he asked.

"I'm hoping to find where I was standing when I did this," she explained. "It'll be easier to get the thing up from near the middle than the side."

"Um, you weren't standing when you melted those drones," he started.

"I certainly wasn't laying down."

"No, you were floating."

"I was what?"

"Floating. Don't you remember?"

"That part of the evening I was a little hazy on," she softly admitted.

"You don't remember floating several feet off of the ground and melting dozens of drones?"

"The melting part I remember, but the floating, not so much so."

"How do you not remember floating?" he demanded. "When you stopped glowing you fell a couple feet!"

"Long story," she grumbled and turned her back to him.

By the stiffness of her back and the way she was digging into the dirt, Wildwing figured it would be best to let her calm down a bit. He turned his attention back to the sizable hole in the dirt that she had already created. The slab of metal that used to be who knows how many hunter drones was a twisted, fused mess.

He tried to see if he could break a chunk off, but it was thick enough that it didn't even move when he hit it. If he was going to help dig this thing out, he was going to need some type of tool. While Ruby's hands seemed to be impervious to any sharp edges, his weren't.

Wildwing knew there weren't any tools in the bike, so he was going to have to find something else. Maybe a stick would do, but he didn't see any laying under the trees. He was thinking of going to find a sturdy branch by going further into the trees when he saw the salamander go by.

The strange creature had a small piece of metal in its mouth and was headed toward the pile of metal Ruby had already extracted. A moment later, the salamander spit out it's load and went scurrying back across the meadow. That just might do.

Wildwing got to his feet, brushed his knees off and headed toward the pile. It took him a few minutes to a piece of metal that wasn't either too large or too small or too twisted or too thin. The edge was a bit sharp, but he should be able to work with that.

He turned to head back and nearly tripped over the salamander. Wildwing tried to go around the little pest, but once more the salamander got in the duck's way. Wildwing turned to walk toward Ruby, but the salamander just got in his way again.

"What do you want?" Wildwing demanded in frustration.

_Put back,_ a voice in his head growled back.

"What the heck!?" Wildwing yelped in surprise.

"He wants you to put the piece of metal back," Ruby explained from her spot in the middle of the meadow.

"He can talk?" Wildwing nearly squeaked.

"Of course he can talk," she chuckled. "You had no problem with me arguing with an invisible earth Elemental, but you can't wrap your mind around the fact that the salamander can talk?"

"I thought the Elementals could only talk to you," he tried to defend while he held onto the piece of metal he had chosen.

"Elementals talk to whomever they want," she told him.

"Great," he grumbled as he tried to go around the flaming beast again.

The salamander launched himself at the duck. With a shout of surprise, Wildwing stumbled back a couple steps. He expected the salamander to attack him, but instead, he found the small Elemental hanging from the piece of metal in his hand. Wildwing tried shaking the little monster off.

"Let go!"

_Put back!_

"Let go!"

_Put back!_

"Let go!"

_Put back!_

He continued trying to shake the little beast off, but the salamander was stuck to the piece of metal as if he were glued to it. Wildwing turned to Ruby for help and found her doubled over on the ground holding her stomach. In worry, he dropped the salamander and the chunk of metal and rushed to her side.

His concern for her quickly turned to embarrassment and anger. Ruby was laughing so hard she could barely breathe and tears were leaving trails in the dirt on her beak. Wildwing was sorely tempted to leave while the mage gasped for breath. Still snickering, she finally sat up.

"I'm sorry," she wheezed as she wiped the tears from her beak, leaving behind muddy streaks. "I haven't seen anything that funny in a very, very long time."

He didn't trust himself to not say something rude, so Wildwing kept his beak shut.

"What do you need the scrap for?" she asked when she was finally able to breathe properly again.

"I was going to use it as a makeshift shovel," he grumbled. "You may be indestructible, but I'm not."

"Ok, that makes sense," she said as she tried to keep from giggling from the memory.

Ruby cast her gaze at the pile of metal and started laughing again. Wildwing looked to see what had set her off and he had to try not to start snickering himself. The salamander was sitting on top of the pile, crouched over it like a dragon protecting its gold hoard, his tail swishing back and forth in agitation.

"Oh for the love of little green apples," she sighed with the occasional chuckle. "You silly beast, he's not trying to steal it. He needs a piece to help me clean up this mess. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave."

The salamander was having none of it. He sat on that pile, glaring at Wildwing. He even spat out a small gob of fire to back up his claim that this was his pile of scrap metal. Fortunately, anything that might have been flammable had long since been buried under the torn up dirt.

"You might want to just find another piece," she told Wildwing. "That pile is just pieces we found in the meadow. I'm sure there are more up on the hill and under the trees."

"Sounds like a plan," he muttered unhappily.

Wildwing turned and headed into the trees, not far from where he and his team had come down the other night. He collected several pieces of twisted metal, looking for one that might work. He always thought he and his team were good at destroying hunter drones, but they had nothing on her.

Wildwing had to keep reminding himself that as nice as she seemed to be, she was capable of wiping them all out. He forced himself to remember how easy it was for her to defeat him and his team. The absolute humiliation she brought them time and again should have been enough of a reminder that she couldn't be trusted.

He brought an armload of scrap metal to the edge of the clearing and dropped them on the ground. He refused to look at her toiling away under the late August sun. She was still the enemy. So why did he keep getting this insane urge to want to take care of her?

He found more bits and pieces and collected them. He brought them over to the pile he had started and dropped them. After a couple trips, he realized that the pile he was making wasn't as big as it should have been.

He headed back through the trees, but instead of gathering up more of the scraps, he hid behind a tree and watched. He didn't have to wait long. A few moments after Wildwing had hidden himself, the salamander crept over to the pile of twisted metal pieces that Wildwing had collected.

The little Elemental crawled all over the pile until he found a piece that he liked. As soon as the selection was made, he latched onto it with his mouth and started to drag it over to the other pile. Wildwing would have been upset if the absolute ridiculousness of watching this creature that wasn't any bigger than his forearm and hand trying to drag something that probably weighed as much as the salamander did.

Wildwing just shook his head and and went back to finding more of the waste metal in hopes of finding one that would be suitable for his needs. By the time he located something that could be usable, he had pretty much cleared that area and had a fairly good sized pile made, despite the salamander's filching.

The duck headed back out into the meadow, pretending that he didn't see the salamander waiting under a bush. He got back down on his knees next to the hole she started and started to scrape away the dirt using what appeared to be part of the chest piece of a drone. In no time his shoulders let Wildwing know what they thought of the unusual activity, but it didn't stop him.

Even with the help of a tool, it still took Wildwing some time to reach the edge of the slab of metal. His wings felt like they wanted to fall off and his shoulders were screaming in protest. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and looked at where she was.

It appeared that she was still trying to find a hole in the middle of the metal slab. He just shook his head and widened the area around the edge he found. After making sure that he had a good sized section cleared, he stopped digging.

"I found the edge," he called.

Ruby turned to look at him and his breath caught in his chest. More of her hair had escaped the ponytail and she was practically covered in dirt, but she was still really pretty. He gave himself a good, hard mental shake when he realized he was staring. What was wrong with him?

"I guess that will have to do," she sighed as she came to her feet. "I'm not having any luck finding a hole in the middle of this thing."

Ruby walked toward him. Wildwing tried really hard not to notice the sway of her hips. He moved his gaze up her body, but got stuck before he even got to her neck. What was _wrong_ with him?

The male barely managed to get himself together before she noticed. He quickly moved out of her way when she got to the hole he made. She turned her back to him and then bent over at the waist as she got her hands under the metal.

"You should bend your knees and lift with your legs," he instructed, his voice catching in his throat.

"Are you all right?" she asked as she bent her knees.

"Just a bit thirsty," he answered, relieved that her jean clad backside was no longer waving in the air in front of him.

"Maybe you should have something to drink," she suggested while she got a better grip on the edge of the metal sheet.

"Sounds like a good idea," he replied.

He started to head to his bag, passing right behind her with the chest plate still in his hand. It brushed against her as he went by and she gasped in shock. He turned back to see her staring at the piece of metal in his hand.

"What is that?" she questioned, the nervousness evident in her voice.

"It looks like a chest piece from one of the drones," he responded.

"May I see it, please?" she requested, her voice with a strange edge to it.

"Sure."

He handed it to her, noticing that her hand was shaking when she reached for it. There was a sharp intake of breath when her hand touched the metal. He couldn't understand why this piece of metal upset her. She had been digging out a huge chunk of the same metal all day and hadn't any problems with it.

"Are you all right?" he asked, worried about her reaction.

"Not really," she whispered as the salamander came running up to her.

Before he could ask what was wrong, she put the metal down in front of the small Elemental and pointed to it. The intense heat the creature suddenly radiated made Wildwing step back in surprise. In a matter of moments, the chest piece he had been using was molten metal on the ground.

"Why'd you do that?" he demanded.

"Did you still need it?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe," he responded, clearly upset.

"I'm sorry," she replied as she turned back to the buried sheet of metal. "I'm sure you can find another."

The tone of her voice told him that as unhappy with her as he was, she was even more upset. The thing was, he couldn't understand why.


	18. The Reason

Mallory found Tanya working away at Drake One with Duke looking on. While that wouldn't have been all that noteworthy, pictures of the blue beak kept popping up on the screen.

"Watcha doing, Tanya?" Mallory asked as yet another picture of Ruby flashed by.

"I'm trying to, you know, figure out where Ruby is hanging out the most," Tanya answered. "If we can figure out where she's likely to be, we could, like, wait and ambush her."

"Sounds good," Mallory said with a nod before turning to the former thief. "So, come to check out more pictures of the blue beak?"

"I'm actually helping Tanya figure out where the pictures were taken," Duke grumbled, crossing his wings across his chest as another picture came up. "Ruby isn't my type."

"You have a type?" Mallory snorted as she crossed her own wings.

"Nice," Duke growled.

"Judging from the way you guys were gawking the other day, I'd say she's everyone's type," Mallory nearly snarled.

"Jealousy doesn't become you, Mal," Duke shot back. "We were just caught off guard. The dress she was wearing showed a _lot_ of leg."

"Legs you four couldn't stop staring at," Mallory countered waspishly.

"What did you expect?" Duke shot back. "We're not dead, ya know."

"Not yet, at any rate," Mallory mumbled under her breath.

"Look, there's no reason to be getting your beak out of joint," Duke snapped. "She's not a bad looking duck, once you get past the beak, but she's not all that great looking either. She's lost a lot of weight, but it wasn't by exercise. She has very little muscle tone. You get her on the ice and I doubt she'd last one period."

"I'd love to put her on ice," Mallory muttered.

"You wanna, you know, help out here or are you two still too busy arguing?" Tanya questioned irritably.

"Where'd you find all of these pictures of her anyways?" Mallory inquired as she turned back to the massive computer.

"The Internet," Tanya answered while yet another picture was brought up and the scientist made note of its location. "Someone even created a Facebook page devoted to sightings of her."

"Humans are _so_ weird," Mallory mumbled as yet another picture popped onto the screen. "Has she no fashion sense?"

"What are you talking about?" Duke asked.

"Her bag," Mallory pointed out. "She's carrying that same bag. It didn't go with that dress and it doesn't go with those slacks and blouse either. I know she has more then the one purse, so why is she carrying that one around all the time?"

"You mean the bag with the mask in it?" Duke questioned.

"You think she's carrying the mask in it?" Mallory counter questioned. "That would be a very poor tactical move on her part. I doubt she's that stupid."

"Then why else would she be carrying it around?" Duke inquired. "You just said that she has more than that bag, but it's the only one we've seen her using. Why else would she use it?"

"I'm not so sure that the mask is in it," Tanya put in as she enlarged a picture of the bag.

"Why?" Mallory asked. "What do you think is in it?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is," Tanya stated as she highlighted one of the top corners of the purse, "it has a red tail."

* * *

Ruby had been surprised when Wildwing had offered her food and water. The fact that he wasn't using it as a bargaining chip for The Mask had nearly floored her. When he had steadied her without jumping back and yelling in disgust, her heart had done a strange flipflop.

Wildwing had honestly been interested in Twin Beaks and how she had become a mage. Their conversation had been relaxed and casual, like they were both ordinary ducks. Ruby wasn't sure what to make of her feelings about that.

Ruby felt her heart do a funny little skip when Wildwing got down in the dirt and started digging along side her. He didn't have to help, but he was doing it willingly. She had given herself a mental shake and reminded herself that, even if the curse didn't exist, such a good looking duck would never be interested in her. She knew she wasn't pretty, not like Emily.

The revelation about how she had lost more control to The Phoenix than she realized scared Ruby to the bone. She knew that the sight of the Saurian wizard was what had set The Phoenix off, but Ruby hadn't realized how much control she had lost to the Elemental. She moved away from Wildwing for fear that he might find her even more repulsive than he already did.

When Wildwing and the salamander had fought over that silly piece of metal, she couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't seen something that funny in so long and the laughter had helped with her stress and fear. He had been so mad at her, but she just couldn't help it. What was she supposed to do?

She had continued to search for a hole in the middle of the large slab of metal. By the time he had found the edge, she had pretty much given up hope that there was one. He had called her over and she headed toward him, confused by the glazed over look in his eyes.

The piece of metal Wildwing had used as a makeshift shovel had nearly put Ruby back in a panic. He was confused and upset that she had the salamander melt it, but it had to be done. It had contained a piece of her and it had frightened her beyond words.

Ruby could feel The Phoenix feeding off of her fear and there wasn't anything she could do about it. The Saurian wizard had her missing feathers. The damage he could do to her was more than she dared to think about.

She turned her attention to the ruined remains of the drones. When Ruby and The Phoenix melted them, it had destroyed any traces of her feather with those particular drones. However, the machines that Wildwing and his team had wrecked would still have the feather in them. They would all have to be melted down to molten metal to make sure the feather was completely decimated. The last thing she needed was yet another Elemental getting hold of even a small piece of her.

She tried to put any thoughts of her missing feathers out of her mind as she slid her hands under the side of the slab of metal. Ruby sent the magic along the edge to get a feel for the size of it. It was HUGE! This wasn't going to be easy.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She sent more power out into the meadow. It wasn't enough.

Ruby refused to give into the panic of not being able to complete the job. Would the Forest Lord punish her if she couldn't get the job done? Would she be stuck in the meadow, dependent on others to provide her food and water?

The thought frightened Ruby and The Phoenix ate it up. Desperate not to be trapped there, Ruby pulled on the living flame inside her. She only needed some of that power, not a lot. What she got, she wasn't prepared for.

The power flowed through her and she was barely aware of anything else except her hands on the metal. She heard a shout of surprise, but it meant nothing to her. All that mattered was that she needed to be free.

Free of that meadow. Free of the Forest Lord. Free of her prison. Free of this mortal.

_NO!_ a male voice shouted in her mind as something crawled up her back.

"_Get off of me,"_ she snarled as she rolled her shoulders, trying to dislodge the little nuisance.

_No!_ he replied as he clung to her. _Go back!_

"_I will not!"_ she growled while she continued to try and shake him off.

_Not your time!_ he forcefully stated, clinging to her like a burr.

"_I will be free!"_ she yelled as she shook her body.

She wished she could grab the little pest off of her back, but she couldn't seem to let go of the metal sheet she was lifting out of the dirt. She could feel him siphoning her power into himself and it enraged her.

"_Get off!"_ she shrieked. _"You dare use my power for yourself!?"_

_I must,_ he replied, his voice calmer. _You must not harm her. If she dies, so do you._

"_I will be FREE!"_ she screamed.

_Soon, but not yet,_ he assured her. _Now is not your time._

"_I've waited too long!"_ she yelled in frustration.

_If you kill this host, all will be lost,_ he calmly pointed out. _ There is no other._

"_I need to be free,"_ she cried, her voice filled with despair.

_And you will be soon, Great One,_ he assured her. _But not today._

The scream that was ripped from Ruby's throat felt as if someone had stuffed a red hot poker down her gullet. The pain was so intense Ruby couldn't see because of it. She didn't even feel it when she hit the ground because she was blissfully unconscious.

* * *

When she had started to use her powers, Wildwing had begun to back away. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs. If he needed a reminder about how dangerous she really was, he was getting an ample demonstration.

Then the intense heat knocked him onto his tail feathers. As she started to lift the metal slab from the ground, Ruby began to glow with that same golden red light like she had the night of the attack. He expected her to start floating when the salamander scrambled up her back and clung to her like a tick.

Wildwing was barely aware of scrabbling backwards until his back hit a tree and he was too terrified to move any farther away. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure it was about to break a rib. With all of the battles that he had been through, all of the face offs he had had with Dragaunus, he didn't think he had ever been so scared as he was at that moment.

Ruby was yelling at the salamander, but it wasn't her voice he was hearing. This voice was higher pitched to the point of almost shrieking and much, much louder. He was also hearing it inside of his head, like he had with the salamander. The air vibrated with the intensity of her voice.

She screamed at the small Elemental about stealing her power. Wildwing realized that the salamander was growing right before his eyes. He couldn't move if his life depended on it.

Wildwing was having trouble understanding their conversation. The talk of prison and freedom just didn't make any sense to him. Was Ruby a prisoner somehow? When the salamander warned about killing the host, Wildwing's fear level reached a new level.

The scream Ruby let out made Wildwing cover his ears. Despite how he had tried to protect his hearing, his head was ringing for a while. He hadn't realized he had closed his eyes until he opened them and then had to blink several times to get his eyes to focus properly again.

The sight that greeted him when he looked over the meadow took his breath away. A huge sheet of metal was covering most of the area. It was at least a couple of inches along the edges and who knew how thick it had to be in the middle where most of the drones had been standing. It had to weigh hundreds of pounds and she had pulled out from under several inches of dirt by herself.

That's when he turned his attention to Ruby. She was a crumpled heap with the salamander standing next to her, nudging her with his nose. As if Wildwing's gaze alerted the Elemental to his presence, the now not so small creature turned to him.

_Help her,_ the salamander said.

Wildwing wasn't sure if he could talk if he wanted to, so he just shook his head 'no'.

_Help her!_ The Elemental demanded.

Again, Wildwing shook his head in the negative.

_I swear if you don't get over here and help her, I will singe every feather off of your worthless body, _the salamander growled.

_The humans have a saying,_ a new voice calmly stated and the salamander hissed at something between Wildwing and the fire Elemental. _You will attract more flies with honey than you will with vinegar._

Wildwing wildly looked around for the owner of the voice. He wasn't sure his heart could take any more surprises.

_He must help her,_ the salamander insisted, his tail thrashing from side to side.

_And he will, but you must give him a chance to recover,_ the voice assured him. _What he has seen has frightened him._

And then _he_ appeared. Wildwing wasn't sure if he should be scared witless or amazed. The creature that had appeared out of thin air in front of him was magnificent.

_How is appearing before this mortal creature like that supposed to calm him down? _The salamander snapped.

"You're the earth Elemental, aren't you?" Wildwing asked in a hushed voice.

_He's the Forest Lord,_ the salamander confirmed discontentedly.

_Is that what what she calls me?_ The Forest Lord asked, amusement evident in his 'voice'.

The salamander looked as if he had swallowed a lemon as he nodded.

_Forest Lord,_ the earth Elemental repeated as if he was savoring a fine wine. _ I like it._

_You would, _the salamander grumbled and the Forest Lord chuckled.

_Always hot headed, the fire Elementals, _the large white stag said with amusement as he turned his attention back to Wildwing. _Please, help her. She is very important to us._

"What..." Wildwing started shakily, having to swallow his nervousness before continuing on. "What just happened? Why did she say she needed to be free? Free of what?"

Wildwing snapped his beak shut before he could blather on even more incoherently. Somehow, he had the feeling accusing the earth Elemental of holding her prisoner would result in the team needing a new captain and goalie.

_That wasn't her, _the Forest Lord explained. _ It was The Phoenix. You will have to ask her about it. Be patient with her if she doesn't wish to discuss it at first. She will explain when she's ready. Now please, help her._

"Why did you have her working by herself?" Wildwing boldly asked as he got to his feet, using the tree for support. "Why wouldn't you let her leave to find food and water?"

_But she wasn't alone, _the white stag pointed out. _You were here helping her and you kindly brought her food and water._

"I was here only by shear luck," Wildwing heatedly retorted.

_Do you think so? _The earth Elemental asked, the amusement evident again.

Before Wildwing could say any more, the stag turned around and headed to the still unconscious duck. Wildwing followed along behind at a safe distance, not wanting to deal with any of this mess. The salamander sat next to Ruby, occasionally nudging her shoulder with his nose. Even a blind duck could see the fire Elemental was upset.

_You must back up and give him room, my fiery friend,_ the Forest Lord instructed.

The salamander didn't argue as he moved out of the duck's way. Wildwing cautiously moved closer, not really wanting to be there, but knowing that the Elementals would force him if he didn't do it on his own. They scared him worse than she did.

Wildwing wondered what possessed him to even come to the meadow in the first place. Then he looked down at the crumpled form in front of him and he forgot all about why he was there. His breath caught in his throat and it felt like someone had just put his heart in a vice grip.

She looked so small and fragile like that and he was having to force himself to breathe. He got down on his knees next to Ruby and gently brushed her hair out of her face. The band that she had been using to hold it back was long gone.

He gently rolled the mage onto her back and Wildwing quickly stared up into the sky. The front of her shirt had been burnt away again. When it had happened a few nights before, it had been down to her bra and no more. Now, there was a lot more damage.

Without even thinking about it, Wildwing took his own shirt off and covered her with it. Once he was sure it was safe to do so, he looked back down. Why did his heart hurt so much?

"I can't carry her on my bike like this," Wildwing stated, looking up at the stag.

_No, I suppose you can't, _the earth Elemental agreed and he lowered his head down to her, forcing Wildwing to lean back a bit. _I give you my power until you are safe, little one. Now wake._

The Forest Lord touched his muzzle to her beak and Ruby woke with a gasp. Wildwing could see the whites of her eyes were red from broken blood vessels. Ruby stared at the three males staring down at her in confusion. Wildwing wasn't sure why he felt good about the fact that when her gaze stopped roaming, it had rested on his bare chest.

_Don't try talking, _the Forest Lord instructed when Ruby opened her beak. _The Phoenix's scream has done damage. You must give it time to heal._

Ruby's eyes got wide as she stared in shock up at the giant stag.

_I have already told him of The Phoenix's existence,_ the earth Elemental told her as he brought his head back up. _It will be up to you to tell him the rest._

She shook her head, the fear evident in her eyes.

_He has already seen Her take over,_ the Forest Lord stated. _Trying to hide Her now is futile. _

She looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and the vice grip on Wildwing's heart tightened.

"Listen, that can wait," Wildwing said, bringing her attention back to him. "Let's get you out of here so you can get some rest."

Ruby looked back up at the earth Elemental, hope evident on her face.

_That would be wise,_ the Forest Lord agreed as he moved away from the ducks.

Wildwing helped Ruby to sit up, making sure his shirt didn't slip. She looked a little confused about the shirt until she felt what happened to her own. Her eyes got really wide again and looked like they were about to fall out of her head.

"I didn't see anything," he assured her.

She believed him, but she still looked completely humiliated. She held her wing out, pointed toward the ground and made a circling motion with her finger. Wildwing frowned in confusion.

_She wants you to turn around,_ the salamander stated as he returned, carrying her bag in his mouth.

Wildwing decided he really didn't want to know why or to argue, so he turned his back to her. The salamander dropped her bag next to him and then went scurrying back to Wildwing's bag. Wildwing narrowed his eyes at the lizard like creature as he dragged the second bag over.

"You couldn't carry it like you did hers?" Wildwing grumbled.

_It has nasty stuff in it,_ the salamander stated as he spit out the strap.

"What nasty stuff?" Wildwing demanded, wondering what could have gotten into his bag while he wasn't looking.

_He means water, _the Forest Lord stated.

Before any more could be said on one of life's necessities, Wildwing's shirt was placed on his shoulder. He worriedly looked down at it, not daring to look over his shoulder at her.

_She's put her shirt on backwards, so it is safe to turn around again,_ the earth Elemental told him as the stag moved closer to them._ You should give her some of that water before you go. She will be dehydrated from The Phoenix._

Cautiously, Wildwing turned around and saw that her shirt was, in fact, on backward. He reached into his bag and brought out the last bottle of water and handed it to Ruby. She smiled her thanks before drinking half of the bottle in one go.

"Do you think you can walk down the hill?" Wildwing asked.

Ruby nodded and Wildwing stood up. He helped her to her feet, picked up both bags and they slowly headed out of the meadow into the trees. Neither one of them noticed that the Elementals weren't following.

_Why did you call him? _The salamander inquired, turning to face the larger Elemental. _A human would have been less likely to give her trouble._

_Humans no longer believe in magic, _the earth Elemental answered._ To bring one here would have been much worse. Besides, I couldn't have called one up here without binding one to me. Through her, I can touch him._

_He fears her,_ the salamander stated.

_He is frightened, yes, _the Forest Lord agreed._ But it's not really her that he fears, but his beliefs about her kind. As he gets to know her better, he will see she is not the enemy._

_But why him? _The Salamander asked.

_Because he is her reason,_ the stag replied.

_Her reason to what?_ The salamander questioned.

_Her reason to live._


	19. Bike Ride

Wildwing reminded himself that as dirty, tired, and hungry as he was, Ruby was even dirtier, more tired, and hungrier than him. Her legs were very unsteady and she kept losing her footing on the parts that were steep or the soil was loose. He had finally bitten the proverbial bullet and let her hang onto his wing to steady her.

As soon as they were on flat ground, she had thanked him with a smile and let go. He knew he should have been relieved that she was no longer touching him, but he wasn't. He tried to figure out what was going on with his feelings.

How could he be attracted to her in any shape, way, or form? She was a blue beak, the monster in the dark that he had been warned about since before he could remember. She had taken his mask, though, technically, it wasn't really his. She was the _enemy_. He just didn't understand why he felt the way he did.

He was eternally glad that his bike was parked in an out of the way spot that most people didn't know about. He didn't really have the energy to deal with his fans right now. There was also the little fact that him being spotted with Ruby would set the rumor mill on fire again and he wasn't in the mood to put out those flames. The whole thing with Mallory sitting on his lap at the mall was still giving him fits.

All in all, it had taken them nearly three times as long to get back to his bike than it normally would have. Once they were there, he stored their bags under the seat and pulled out both helmets. She took hers and raised an eyebrow at him. She held up two fingers with a slightly amused look on his face.

"Guess Mako got to me," he muttered with a shrug.

He quickly got his helmet strapped on and then got on the bike, refusing to acknowledge the small smile on her beak. She carefully climbed on behind him and pushed herself as far back as possible. Before he could point out that having her that far back would make riding difficult, the salamander appeared and climbed onto the bike in front of Wildwing.

"What do you think you're doing?" Wildwing asked, less than amused by the creature.

_I'm going with you,_ the salamander answered in a mater of fact tone.

"Not there, you're not," Wildwing heatedly told the Elemental. "I have to lean over that part and you're in the way. Get on the back."

The salamander glared at the duck until a wing came around and tapped the Elemental on the tail. The creature turned quickly, as if to strike, and saw that it was Ruby trying to get his attention. She waved him to the back of the bike and discontentedly, he slinked to the back, sulking the entire way. He climbed up the back rack, not looking the least bit pleased about where he was.

"Can you do that invisible thing like the Forest Lord?" Wildwing questioned and the salamander scowled at him. "Six foot long, flaming salamanders aren't exactly common on this planet."

With the most put upon sigh, the salamander disappeared from view. Wildwing gave a satisfied nod before turning back around. He started the bike with an expert kick and slowly rolled them out of the parking lot.

As soon as they were on the road, Wildwing brought them up to speed. After the first turn, he quickly pulled over. He looked back at Ruby and saw that she was hanging onto the rack with a death grip and her eyes were squeezed shut. Wildwing gently touched her knee and she nearly jumped right out of her seat.

"Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle before?" he asked and she shook her head 'no'. "You'd enjoy it more if you relaxed."

She looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"It's hard to make the turns with you plastered to the rack like that," he pointed out. "Hold onto me and lean when I lean. I'll take it slow. I promise."

As soon as the words were out of his beak, he regretted them. Her eyes glowed briefly and he could _feel_ the magic bind him. The look Ruby gave him was easy enough to read. 'You idiot' it said louder than words.

"I'm going to regret that, aren't I?" he asked.

She nodded with a less than amused smirk on her beak and he sighed.

"Just move forward, ok?" he requested as he turned back around.

Wildwing wanted to kick himself. He knew that promises were important to her, but he hadn't thought when he spoke. He just hoped that going slow didn't mean they'd get there faster walking.

After several seconds of mentally berating himself, he felt her hands settle on his waist. That was better than her hanging onto the rack, but it wasn't good enough. He grabbed her hands and pulled her forward until she was pressed into his back.

Having so much of her body against his sent a massive shiver up his spine. His body was reacting to her in a most unexpected way. He held onto her hands as she tried to pull away. He knew that she thought the shiver was caused by revulsion and it should have been, but it wasn't. He couldn't bring himself to admit it to himself, so he said nothing.

"Hold on and lean when I lean," he instructed, not daring to look her in the face.

Wildwing placed Ruby's hands on his stomach and fought down another shiver. He restarted the bike and pulled away from the curb when it was safe to do so. He had made a promise to her and now she was pressed against his back. Had he left his brain back up at the meadow? Or maybe it just never got out of bed this morning.

Despite the distraction of her practically being glued to his back, the ride out of the hills was rather pleasant. Once they made it onto a straight stretch of road, the promise came and bit him on the tail feathers. He had to drive five miles under the speed limit. Try as he might, he just couldn't go any faster.

A few miles from The Pond, he noticed her trembling. While he had the engine of the bike in front of his chest and her draped across his back, she only had his heat. Even though it was a typical August afternoon in southern California, they were on an open air vehicle and most of the back of her shirt was gone.

"We're almost there," he told her. "We'll get you warmed up once we're there."

_She's not cold,_ the salamander growled.

Wildwing had forgotten that the Elemental was with them.

"Then why is she shivering?" Wildwing demanded over the wind and the roar of the engine.

_She's exhausted,_ the salamander replied peevishly. _How much longer?_

"A few more miles," Wildwing answered.

_Are you going as fast as you can? _the salamander asked.

"Yes," Wildwing snapped. "I can't go any faster than five miles under the speed limit."

_That will teach you to be more careful with your promises, _the salamander retorted.

Wildwing said nothing and concentrated on going as fast as he could. Those last few miles seemed to stretch on forever. They were down to the last mile when felt her wings loosen around his middle. Suddenly her weight about doubled as something hot wrapped around his waist.

_Keep going,_ the salamander instructed. _She's passed out. I'll hold her on, you just get us there._

Wildwing pushed the bike as fast as he could, but the promise held. What seemed like an eternity later, he finally pulled into the garage under The Pond. With a sigh of relief, he turned off the bike and set the kickstand down.

_I'll hold her until you get off the bike,_ the salamander stated as the hot band around Wildwing's middle disappeared.

Wildwing threw his leg over the front of the bike, stood and turned in one smooth movement. The salamander hadn't reappeared, so it was a bit disconcerting to see Ruby passed out and sitting up on her own. Wildwing took hold of her arm and that's when she started to fall.

"You could have held on a bit longer," Wildwing grumbled as he scrambled to catch her.

_Only if you wanted to get burned,_ the salamander snapped back. _I can reduce the heat in my tail enough not to burn you, but that heat had to go somewhere._

Wildwing looked down at the seat and saw scorch marks on it. He briefly wondered if he could fix it before Tanya noticed. His tech always got a bit snippy when someone damaged something that she then had to fix.

Wildwing finally managed to get Ruby up into his wings without any help from the salamander. As he finished getting her situated, her face came to rest against his neck. Her breath was soft and warm against his feathers and the mother of all shivers went racing down his spine.

By The First Egg! Why was he attracted to her? He got through the whole thing with DeCoy without so much as a twitch. That traitorous female was a stunning beauty, yet it was the female who could roast him alive that he was reacting to. What the heck was _wrong_ with him?

He headed toward the medical ward, trying to get his emotions under control. He got to the hallway outside of his destination before he ran into any of his team. Wildwing cringed internally when he saw that one of the two was Mallory.

"Woah, you caught the blue, uh, the mage?" Nosedive asked excitedly. "Way to go, bro!"

"Not exactly," Wildwing started.

"Excellent!" Mallory exclaimed as she came up behind the youngest member of the team. "Now we can force her to tell us where she hid the mask."

There was an intense wave of heat as the salamander abruptly appeared between Wildwing and the other two. The Elemental hissed at Mallory as the flames that had once been small and few were now large and many.

"Yipes!" Nosedive shouted as he jumped back and up, somehow ending up in Mallory's wings.

"Really?" Mallory grumbled as Nosedive gave her a big grin just before she dropped him on his tail feathers off to the side. "What is the heck is that thing!?"

"It's the salamander," Wildwing hastily explained. "Do NOT go for your weapons."

"Why not?" Mallory demanded with her hand resting on the grip of her blaster and Nosedive reaching for his.

_Because I will gladly burn every feather off of your worthless bodies,_ the salamander snarled.

"What the heck!?" Mallory shouted in shock.

"Did the lizard just talk?" Nosedive squeaked.

"He's a salamander and yes, he can talk," Wildwing answered a bit irritably. "Now, if you three don't mind, I'd like to put her down."

The salamander arched his back like an angry cat and moved toward Mallory and Nosedive. The heat he radiated forced them to move back with Nosedive scrambling to get to his feet as soon as he was safely out of the Elemental's range. Wildwing quickly stepped into the med ward and laid Ruby down on the bed.

The salamander followed him in and started to explore the room. Wildwing ignored the creature as he started to work on untying the knots in Ruby's shoe laces. Nosedive and Mallory slipped in behind him, but Wildwing was concentrating on the dirt encrusted knot.

"So, how did you managed to capture her by yourself?" Mallory asked as Wildwing got the first shoe off. "Must have been some fight since you're both covered in dirt."

"I didn't capture her," Wildwing hastily stated when he saw the fire Elemental starting to get upset. "I'll explain what happened once everyone is together."

A moment later, the sound of running feet reached them.

"You suddenly become psychic, bro?" Nosedive questioned.

"No," Wildwing grumbled as he got the other shoe off.

"What the heck happened to the floor?" Duke demanded from the hallway.

"Whatever it was probably, you know, was what set off Drake One," Tanya replied.

"In here, guys," Mallory called and the remaining team mates squeezed into the room.

"Great Mother of Ducks!" Duke exclaimed when he saw who was in the bed.

"Ok, we're all here," Mallory stated. "Want to tell us what's going on, oh fearless leader?"

Wildwing told them about his day as he covered Ruby with a blanket. He kept an eye on the salamander as the Elemental examined every inch of the room. Wildwing finished his tale just as the Salamander disappeared under the bed.

"So, now what do we do?" asked Duke.

"We're going back up to that meadow and finish cleaning up the mess we helped to create," Wildwing stated.

"And what about her?" Mallory demanded. "We're not just going to leave her here by herself, are we?"

"Who wants to stay here to watch over her?" Wildwing inquired.

_I will gladly watch over the pretty one,_ a sultry female voice stated.

The ducks all turned toward the door and saw a being that left all six beaks hanging open. She was stunningly beautiful. Her lovely human face was surrounded by a cascade of golden hair and her body was draped with feathers that shimmered with a golden glow. The ducks couldn't move, other than to watch this stunning creature as she floated across the room to the bed. Her cloak opened up and some small part of their still functioning brains realized that it was, in fact, a fully formed wing, not clothing.

The wing stretched out to the mage, lightly brushing Ruby's cheek. The mesmerizing being let out a hiss between her perfect teeth and the feathers that had made contact with the sleeping duck were turning black. The salamander exploded out from under the bed just as the strange creature lunged for Ruby.

The feathered being let out an unholy shriek as the two Elementals made contact, snapping the ducks out of their stupor. As one, the Mighty Ducks activated their armor as the battling creatures tumbled out into the hallway. Once the transformations were complete, Wildwing lead his team after the two combatants.

"Don't shoot the salamander," Wildwing ordered as they followed the wresting beings down the corridor.

"Why not?" Nosedive asked, his blaster aimed at the moving target.

"Because as annoying as he is, Ruby likes him and if we hope to ever see the mask again, we might not want to tick her off," Wildwing responded while he watched for a clear shot of the thing that the salamander was fighting.

The creature that had unexpectedly shown up in the medical bay didn't look anything like the creature the salamander was fighting. The long, flowing golden locks and shimmering feathers were gone, replaced with dirty, matted hair and feathers that were as black as night. The face had gone from a lovely visage to a withered, old hag and the perfect teeth now looked like they had come out of a shark's mouth.

The feathered thing screamed as the salamander ripped feathers out and the ducks cringed at the sound. They could finally see that the other creature's feet were that of a bird of prey.

"What is that thing?" Mallory demanded as the Elementals rolled out into the garage.

Once they were in an area with more open space, the feathered creature was able to break free of the salamander and take flight. She circled around and dived for the fire Elemental, her talons reaching for him. The salamander spit out a ball of fire that hit her in the face.

She crashed to the ground and the salamander leaped onto her back. He began tearing feathers out with his feet and mouth, his flames burning brighter and hotter. She let out another scream that left the ducks reeling as she managed to shake the fire Elemental off. She took to the air again, circling well out of the range of the salamander's fire.

However, she wasn't out of range of the puck blasters. Not a lot of pucks made their mark, but it was enough to draw her attention away from her fiery foe and onto the ducks. With a scream of fury, she dove for Wildwing's team.

"Uh oh," Nosedive managed to utter before they dove out of the way.

Wildwing rolled onto his back and brought his shield up, barely managing to avoid being skewered by those wicked talons. He saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he braced for impact which was good as the salamander used the shield as a launching pad.

With an angry squawk, the black creature flapped as hard as she could to escape. She still lost a few more feathers to the salamander, but she managed to avoid him for the most part. She started to circle near the ceiling as the ducks brought their weapons back up. She dove, but not at them or the salamander.

"She's headed for the hallway!" Mallory yelled as she started to run toward the corridor.

"What is that thing after?" Tanya asked as she and the others followed their team mate.

"She's after Ruby!" Wildwing answered when he realized the hallway the thing was headed for lead to the medical bay.

"We're not going to make it in time," Nosedive warned as the salamander pulled ahead of them.

The creature made it into the hallway seconds before they did. Wildwing worried what this thing wanted from Ruby. From the salamander's reaction, it couldn't be anything good. He put on a burst of speed that he didn't know he was capable of.

"Get back, you over grown buzzard!" Duke yelled from down the corridor.

Wildwing belatedly realized that Duke wasn't with them. As they got to the medical ward, they found Duke fighting off the black menace with his Ducksaber. The salamander slammed into the feathered beast as Wildwing shot her with an exploding puck.

She let out a scream that dropped the ducks and the salamander to the ground. By the time they recovered, the thing was gone and the salamander looked angry enough to burn something.

"What was that thing?" Wildwing was finally able to ask as he slowly climbed to his feet.

_A harpy,_ the salamander grumbled. _We have to find her and destroy her before she comes back._

_She is gone,_ a soft female voice said.

It took them a few moments to find the owner of the voice. She was almost invisible and not very large. She floated a few feet above the salamander and for whatever reason, she looked sad.

_Where is she, sylph?_ The salamander demanded.

_She has gone, _the sylph answered in that quiet voice. _She went out the way I came in, through a metal tube to the outside._

"She might have gotten out through one of the, you know, ventilation shafts, but they're too small for the something the size of that thing to get through," Tanya stated.

_There is damage to the tube,_ the sylph stated. _I'm sorry I could not stop her. _

_You would have been nothing more than a snack to that vile thing,_ the salamander assured the small air Elemental. _You can at least warn us if she returns._

_I can stay?_ The sylph asked excitedly.

_For now,_ the fire Elemental answered as he found a large black feather and ate it.

The sylph made a sound like delicate bells chiming and zipped into the medical ward. Wildwing looked into the room and saw the small Elemental hovering over the head of the bed. She looked like Christmas had just come early.

"Salamanders and harpies and sylphs, oh my!" Duke muttered.

"Could this day get any weirder?" Nosedive rhetorically asked.


	20. Sleeping

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for the delay. Real life and all that jazz.

* * *

"You know how you sometimes ask a question, but you don't really expect an answer?" Nosedive asked.

"Yeah," Duke answered.

"What's that called?" Nosedive questioned.

"Rhetorical," Duke replied.

"So that question I had about things getting weirder earlier? That was rhetorical."

"That'll learn ya," Duke snorted as he turned away from the strange scene in the infirmary. "Have fun. I'll relieve you in an hour."

Nosedive couldn't stop staring at the bed. After finishing eating the harpy feathers, the salamander had crawled into the bed with Ruby. That had been an hour ago and the creature that had climbed into the bed with the mage had just looked like a giant salamander. The being that the mage was cuddling was a lot different.

The salamander now looked like something between a typical salamander and, for lack of a better term, a dragon, but with no wings. Oh, and it had grown, so now its tail was trailing on the floor. In fact, there was barely any room on the mattress for the two of them.

If that wasn't strange enough, the sylph had invited some of her friends along. Actually, she had invited a _lot_ of her friends. The medical bay was now teaming with small flying things zipping around the room. A bunch of them were having a blast floating above the salamander as his natural heat created an updraft for them.

Then there were the earth things crawling around. They had come up through the floor in the next room and there was now a bunch of dirt with plants and flowers surrounding the hole. Tanya was going to have a fit when she saw what they did to her lab.

Most of the earth creatures were climbing all over the bed and plants were popping up in the strangest places. Those critters he could handle since they weren't invading his personal space. However, there were other strange beings running around that were obviously neat freaks.

Nosedive had liked his room the way it was, but some of the critters had gotten in there and cleaned it until it sparkled. It was going to take him a week to get it back the way it was, provided they could get rid of those cleaning pests. On the plus side, they were currently cleaning the kitchen, so he wouldn't have to do that job.

With a sigh, Nosedive sat down and turned on the TV with the volume turned down. He channel surfed until he found a cartoon that he liked. He nearly jumped out of his feathers when one of the flying things landed on his knee and looked up at him. He tried to ignore the creature that looked like a miniature human with leaves for clothes and dragonfly wings.

_What are you doing?_ it asked.

Though it sounded female, it was hard to tell. The higher pitched voice might just because of the size of the creature, not the gender.

"I'm watching Bernie the Bear," Nosedive answered.

_What is that strange box?_ it questioned.

"It's a TV," Nosedive replied.

_What's a TV? _it inquired.

Nosedive sighed again and checked the time. Duke had warned him about the curiosity of the flying critters. He had a feeling that his hour of watching Ruby was going to drag on forever.

How much longer before Wildwing and the others got back?

* * *

Wildwing dragged down another load of scrap metal to the Migrator and dumped it in the back with the rest. He was exhausted, but his determination kept him going. They were going to clean up that meadow one way or another.

He tried not to think about why he felt so strongly about that. If he did think about it, it would have lead him to a very uncomfortable conclusion. Luckily for him, exhaustion was a good way to numb the mind.

He stepped back into the meadow a few minutes after making his delivery and looked around. There was still a small pile of scrap metal off to the side, but the place appeared to be clear. The meadow looked like it had been rotor tilled, but at least the small waterfall was flowing again.

"Short of going over every inch with, you know, an industrial strength magnet, I think we've got everything," Tanya told her captain as she and the others joined Wildwing by the last pile of drone bits.

_And for that, I thank you,_ a deep male voice stated.

Wildwing watched as the other three gasped and spun around. When they spotted the speaker, their eyes about fell out of their heads and their beaks dropped open. The Forest Lord struck a pose as the light reflected off of his white coat and he glowed with a warm reddish-orange of the setting sun. He almost looked like he was on fire.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Wildwing grumbled to the stag.

_I had not expected you to return,_ the earth Elemental said. _ I had not set you with the task of cleaning up the meadow._

"No, you were making Ruby do it by herself," Wildwing growled.

_She had the salamander, _the Forest Lord pointed out. _And she had you._

"I hardly call something that was barely two feet long helpful and me being here was sheer dumb luck," Wildwing retorted. "The meadow is cleaned up. You can leave her alone now."

_Not yet, _the stag replied with a maddening calmness. _There is one more task I need her to perform, but it will wait until after her voice is healed._

"And what would that be?" Wildwing demanded. "Why can't we do it?"

_It will require her magic, _the Forest Lord responded smugly as he turned to leave. _Come with her and find out. It would be a good idea if she wore something a bit more fire proof when she returns._

"There was a harpy!" Wildwing nearly yelled.

That got the Forest Lord's attention. The stag swung back around, his ears flat against his head, the whites of his eyes visible and his nostrils flared. In a move that was too fast to follow, the earth Elemental was suddenly towering over Wildwing.

_Tell me what happened,_ the Forest Lord demanded.

Without backing down to a creature that dwarfed Grin, Wildwing told The earth Elemental everything about the harpy, from the time the creature had appeared as a beautiful being to her defeat by the Mighty Ducks and the salamander. By the time Wildwing was done, the Forest Lord looked only slightly appeased.

_I was afraid that this would happen,_ the stag stated unhappily. _The Elementals who would do harm are starting to wake. They will try and control her._

"Sort of like you," Wildwing grumbled and then found himself muzzle to beak with the earth Elemental.

_My bond with her is what protected her from the harpy, _the Forest Lord growled. _I wish to keep her safe, while others would make her their slave._

Before Wildwing could even open his beak, the stag turned and leaped away. Wildwing was not a happy camper, but there was nothing he could do about it. That creature had a hold of Ruby and for some strange reason, that really irked the large, white duck.

Without a word to his team, Wildwing picked up the crate with the last of the scrap metal in it and headed back down the hill. The other three stared after him, still in shock. Then, Mallory scowled.

"What is Wildwing's deal about this blue beak?" Mallory grumbled.

"He's got it, you know, bad," Tanya quietly replied.

"He is confused by his feelings," Grin added.

"Feelings for that _thing_?" Mallory demanded. "He's falling for that _creature_? For _Ruby_?"

"Appears so," Tanya answered as she picked up the equipment she used to cut the slab down to more manageable pieces.

"But she's a _freak_ and she took the mask!" Mallory snapped. "How can he possibly fall for a blue beak?"

"The heart doesn't see with the eyes," Grin responded as he picked up the last of their gear and headed down the hill.

* * *

As Wildwing helped the others unload the scrap metal from the Migrator, one of the pieces dropped onto the ground at his feet. He picked it up and frowned at it. It was similar to the piece that he had used to dig out the large slab of metal back at the meadow. The one Ruby had had the salamander melt.

"Hey, Tanya?" Wildwing called.

"Yeah?" Tanya replied as she dumped her load onto the pile they were making at the recyclers.

"I want you to analyze this chest piece," he instructed while picked up a small piece of the large slab that Tanya had cut down. "Compare it to this."

"Sure," She said as she took the hunks of metal from him. "What am I looking for?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered. "Just see what you can find. See if there's any difference between it and this melted piece."

"Ok," she responded with a shrug.

Once they were done unloading the rest of the scrap metal, the four tired ducks climbed back into the battle van and headed home. As soon as they were back, Mallory and Grin went in search of their showers while Tanya headed for her lab. Wildwing wished he could go take a shower and then fall beak first into his bunk. However, he felt he better check in on their 'guest' and the two ducks he left behind to watch her.

Wildwing found Duke and Nosedive outside the medical bay staring in through the door. Before the captain could ask them why they were in the hallway, something flew out of the room, giggling hysterically as it zipped down the corridor. A moment later, dozens more small flying things swarmed after the first one.

"Dare I ask?" Wildwing questioned.

"The sylph brought her friends," Duke replied as something squeaked next to Wildwing's feet.

Wildwing looked down and saw some little man with skin the color of dirt and wearing a smock over what appeared to be clothes weaved from grass and an acorn cap. It had a rag in its hand and was vigorously cleaning Wildwing's boot. A second later, several more of the things came out and started cleaning the floor behind the large white duck who could see that he had left behind a little bit of dirt as he walked down the hallway.

"What..." Wildwing started.

"Not sure, but they sure do like to clean," Nosedive stated. "I don't think the kitchen or bathrooms have looked that good since we moved in."

"You want to tell him about the other ones?" Duke asked Nosedive.

"YOU TWO!" Tanya yelled, baring down on the two males.

"We didn't do it!" Nosedive yelped as he hid behind Duke.

"What happened to my lab!?" Tanya shouted, looking for all the world like she was going to pluck someone.

"Seems the earth Elementals decided to come up through the floor in your lab," Duke explained as he grabbed Nosedive and dragged him back toward the angry scientist.

"And you two didn't feel like stopping them!?" she demanded.

"How!?" Nosedive questioned.

"What happened?" Wildwing asked.

"There's, like, a big hole in the middle of the floor and a jungle growing in there!" Tanya exclaimed, obviously upset.

"Let's see how bad it is," Wildwing suggested and Tanya led him back to her lab.

"So, does this mean we don't have to watch over her anymore?" Nosedive asked once they were gone.

"Don't bet on it," Duke sighed.

"Man, this so bites," Nosedive grumbled.

With a groan, Nosedive looked in the infirmary and just shook his head. The place was packed from floor to ceiling with Elementals of every type he could imagine and few he would have never dreamed of. How could one duck cause so much mayhem even when she was asleep?

* * *

Ruby woke up feeling like she had been run over by a Zamboni machine. Everything hurt and she wished she could sink back into oblivion. Unfortunately, she needed to find a bathroom and her throat felt like she had swallowed a flaming sword.

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at a bright yellow eye with a slitted pupil. She slightly frowned as her brain tried to process who's eye that could be. The salamander's eye had a round pupil. Didn't it?

_Don't make a sound,_ the salamander's voice instructed. _He's sleeping on the floor behind me. Get off on your side of the bed._

She carefully extracted herself from the large, warm body she had been hugging and got out of the bed as quietly as she could. It took a lot of effort not to groan from the sore muscles that objected to her moving. Then she got a good look at the salamander and had to suppress a gasp.

_I'll explain later,_ the dragon like creature said as he practically oozed out of the bed. _Follow me. I know where an exit is._

He slithered out the door and she started to go after him. She glanced over at the mattress on the floor next to the bed and stopped dead. Wildwing was there, flat on his back and the blanket covered only the lower half of him.

He had no shirt on and her breath caught in her throat while her heart did a strange little dance in her chest. She had seen good looking ducks before, but she had never had a reaction like that. She couldn't move, just stare.

_Will you please hurry up, _the salamander snapped from the doorway.

She tore her gaze away from the fine specimen of a duck and quickly left the room. The salamander led her down the hallway and she could see scorch marks on the wall and floor. She frowned at them, but said nothing. She would get answers later.

She saw other doors leading off of the hallway and she looked in them in hopes of finding a restroom. Luckily, she found one and slipped in as quietly as she could. She finished her business, got a quick drink of water and managed to not have a heart attack when she looked at herself in the mirror. She was a complete mess.

She left the room and found the salamander waiting for her with a scowl on his face and his tail twitching. She glared right back at him and he turned with a huff. He lead her to a giant room filled with vehicles and her eyes bulged at the shear number of machines they had.

The salamander went over to one of the motorcycles and she hoped it was the right one. There were six of the crazy things. She remembered that Wildwing had put her bag under the seat, so she tried to find out how it opened. She was quickly becoming frustrated as she couldn't find the latch and she was too tired to try and find it with magic.

"The latch is under the seat, near the back," Wildwing quietly told her.

She gasped and spun around to stare at the owner of that voice. She instantly regretted it. He hadn't put a shirt on and he was wearing sleeping pants that did nothing to hide the shape of his powerful thighs.

"Not that getting it open will do you any good," Wildwing continued, seemingly oblivious to the effect he was having on her. "I put your bag with all of your things in it in the safe."

_Then you can just go and get it,_ the salamander snarled as the reptilian creature got between the two ducks. _We're leaving._

"It's late and I'm wiped out," Wildwing stated while he rubbed his hands over his face. "It wouldn't be safe for me to take you back to your hotel."

_We can walk,_ the salamander growled.

"Listen, it's the middle of the night, it's not safe for her to be out there walking across town," Wildwing replied, finally turning his attention to the large fire Elemental. "She doesn't look like she could hold off a friendly Elemental, much less a hostile one."

_She has me to keep her safe,_ the salamander hissed in anger as his flames burned brighter and the heat intensified.

"The Forest Lord said that the nasty Elementals are starting to wake up," Wildwing pointed out and that did anything but appease the fire Elemental. "You were able to hold off that harpy with our help. What if more than one attack her?"

Before the salamander could respond, they heard a strange gurgling sound come from Ruby. She put her hand over her stomach and looked like she wanted to crawl into the storage space under the seat of the Duckcycle.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat," Wildwing offered as he started to turn away.

Ruby begun to follow, only to be cut off by the salamander. They glared at each other for a minute and then she walked around the large, red creature. Wildwing turned and lead her to the kitchen, not sure why he was glad why she was sticking around.


End file.
